tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/regenerative-agriculture-66184/articlesRegenerative agriculture – The Conversation2024-03-10T13:10:41Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2248322024-03-10T13:10:41Z2024-03-10T13:10:41ZHow nature-based knowledge can restore local ecosystems and improve community well-being<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580297/original/file-20240306-16-iukteg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C29%2C6032%2C3674&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Regenerative agricultural strategies can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from food production, restore local ecosystems and enhance community well-being.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Organizations in the food and agriculture sector have been <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/three-things-nature-based-solutions-agriculture">looking to nature for inspiration</a> to improve soil health, maintain water quality and foster local food security in the places where they operate.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/17/cop28-sustainable-agriculture-food-greenhouse-gases">evidence is clear</a> that our current food and agriculture systems are severely impacting global greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater usage and deforestation.</p>
<p>In response to these issues, activists, policymakers and corporate executives have been exploring <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity/analysis-cop28-put-food-system-transformation-menu-who-will-pick-up-bill-2023-12-21">new strategies</a> for making our food systems more resilient and sustainable. </p>
<p>Regenerative agricultural strategies, in particular, can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from food production, restore local ecosystems and enhance community well-being in specific geographical locations. </p>
<p>But they also require a foundation of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/climate/the-farming-conundrum.html">nature-based or ecological knowledge</a> in order to be effective. Our recent research sheds light on how organizations can gain and make use of this knowledge.</p>
<h2>Regenerating local communities</h2>
<p>In the face of current global ecological challenges, there is a need to explore how organizations can help revitalize local communities and ecosystems. Our research on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/10860266231220081">farming organizations on Vancouver Island</a>, British Columbia, aims to explore this.</p>
<p>We studied nine certified organic farming organizations to examine how they were harnessing and using ecological knowledge. Certified organic farming involves business operations that are <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2020/ongc-cgsb/P29-32-310-2020-eng.pdf">“sustainable and harmonious with nature</a>.” In B.C., farms are awarded <a href="https://organicbc.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/BCCOP-Accreditation-Manual-v4.pdf">certification annually</a> after a rigorous evaluation process. </p>
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<img alt="Piles of strawberries and cherries on sale at an indoor market." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580299/original/file-20240306-24-3smwaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580299/original/file-20240306-24-3smwaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580299/original/file-20240306-24-3smwaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580299/original/file-20240306-24-3smwaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580299/original/file-20240306-24-3smwaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580299/original/file-20240306-24-3smwaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580299/original/file-20240306-24-3smwaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Consumers have been increasing demand for locally sourced, pesticide-free and certified organic products.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Unlike <a href="https://doi.org/10.2134/agronmonogr54.c2">conventional farming practices</a> that prioritize short-term gains through the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and monocropping, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2009.11.002">organic farms focus on long-term health and ecological balance</a>.</p>
<p>The farms we studied were actively engaged in community initiatives aimed at conserving nature and strengthening local food and nutrition security.</p>
<p>Through a series of in-depth interviews with farmers, owners and other key decision-makers, we found these organizations were helping regenerate their local communities by committing to environmental stewardship, and pursuing, acquiring and applying new ecological knowledge.</p>
<h2>Environmental stewardship</h2>
<p>The leaders and decision-makers of the farming organizations we interviewed were strongly committed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-018-9749-0">environmental stewardship</a>. Environmental stewardship refers to actions and decisions that prioritize the conservation and enhancement of ecosystems and biodiversity, and the interests of future generations.</p>
<p>This commitment was evident through two main factors. First, decision-makers demonstrated a genuine appreciation for nature, leading them to feel strongly about safeguarding it from harm.</p>
<p>During our interviews, one farmer described how the goals of building sustainable communities and healthy ecosystems influenced her business’ long-term goals. She said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“In the long term if you don’t have a really solid, values-based business, then you’re going to disappear anyway. [We] put our values behind our environmental footprint and [our efforts to make] this community a better place.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Second, these leaders had a deep understanding of how their organizations relied on the health of the surrounding ecosystems. The farming practices adopted by them were based on building mutually beneficial relationships between their organizations, local ecosystems and communities. </p>
<p>One board member we interviewed emphasized their reliance on the surrounding ecosystems in an interview, stating that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“By enhancing biodiversity, we can bring back beneficial ecosystems that directly benefit our farmers. We recognized the importance of pollinators and took steps to increase biodiversity by reintroducing native bees.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This dedication to environmental stewardship led decision-makers to seek out ecological knowledge about the local ecology to help them foster the creation of healthy and diverse ecosystems.</p>
<h2>Restoring local ecosystems and well-being</h2>
<p>The decision-makers we interviewed decided to seek out new knowledge to improve their organization’s performance and promote long-term social and ecological well-being. They often did this in response to <a href="https://organicbc.org/media-release-organic-market-2021">rising demand from customers and community members</a> for locally sourced, pesticide-free and certified organic products. </p>
<p>Organizations acquired ecological knowledge by collaborating with scientists, academics and non-profit organizations through knowledge exchanges. In our study, for example, some farmers integrated scientific knowledge with their farming methods, resulting in improved crop yield and quality. </p>
<p>Organizations then put their newly acquired ecological knowledge into practice by transforming it into manuals, reports, operating procedures or other similar formats. This allowed the knowledge to be accessed easily and updated as necessary. Applying new knowledge required flexibility, a hands-on learning approach, and the willingness to discard outdated practices.</p>
<p>Once organizations fully integrated new ecological knowledge, they were able to contribute to regenerating their communities, which enhanced financial and ecological sustainability.</p>
<h2>A growing urgency</h2>
<p>With the world’s population projected to reach <a href="https://sustainablefoodbusiness.com/regenerative-agriculture-jbs-global/">10 billion by 2050</a>, there’s even more of a growing urgency to address environmental impacts and ensure community well-being, ecosystem health and food security, particularly in vulnerable places.</p>
<p>As businesses navigate today’s complex social and environmental challenges, the importance of <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/win-win-win-how-regenerative-farming-can-help-the-planet-farmers-and-you-1.5330180?cache=tzbrsjtr">turning to nature for inspiration is becoming increasingly evident</a>. </p>
<p>Businesses, in particular large corporations, have the responsibility to address the environmental impacts of the food system by committing to promote regenerative farming practices. </p>
<p>By situating themselves within their communities and prioritizing ecological knowledge, businesses have the potential to not only improve their own sustainability, but also to ignite positive change within the communities they operate in.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saeed Rahman received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowships.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Slawinski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the face of growing social and environmental challenges, organizations in the food and agriculture sector are increasingly turning to nature for inspiration.Saeed Rahman, Assistant Professor of Strategy and Sustainability, University of The Fraser ValleyNatalie Slawinski, Professor of Sustainability and Strategy, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2039222023-05-09T05:05:29Z2023-05-09T05:05:29Z‘Regenerative agriculture’ is all the rage – but it’s not going to fix our food system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525041/original/file-20230509-23-89ksn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4947%2C2791&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Decades of <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/75659">industrial agriculture</a> have caused environmental and social damage across the globe. Soils have deteriorated and plant and animal species are disappearing. Landscapes are degraded and small-scale farmers are struggling. It’s little wonder we’re looking for more sustainable and just ways of growing food and fibre.</p>
<p>Regenerative agriculture is one alternative <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0030727021998063">creating</a> a lot of buzz, especially in rich, industrially developed countries. </p>
<p>The term “regenerative agriculture” was coined in the 1970s. It’s generally understood to mean farming that improves, rather than degrades, landscape and ecological processes such as water, nutrient and carbon cycles. </p>
<p>Today, regenerative agriculture is promoted strongly by multinational food companies, advocacy groups and some parts of the farming community. And the Netflix documentary <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81321999">Kiss the Ground</a> features celebrity activists <a href="https://kisstheground.com">promoting</a> the regenerative agriculture movement.</p>
<p>But as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-023-10444-4">our new research</a> shows, regenerative agriculture may not be the transformation our global food system needs.</p>
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<img alt="machines harvest soybean crop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Industrial farming has left vast swathes of land degraded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Farming must change</h2>
<p>About <a href="https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2022-04/UNCCD_GLO2_low-res_2.pdf">20-40%</a> of the global land area is degraded. Agriculture caused 80% of global deforestation in recent decades and comprises 70% of freshwater use. It is the biggest driver of biodiversity loss on land and contributes <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/08/4.-SPM_Approved_Microsite_FINAL.pdf">significantly</a> to greenhouse gas emissions. </p>
<p>Global corporations such as Nestlé, PepsiCo, Cargill and Bayer <a href="https://www.etcgroup.org/sites/www.etcgroup.org/files/files/blockingthechain_english_web.pdf">dominate</a> the food system. Some 70% of the global agrochemicals market is owned by just four companies and 90% of global grain trade is dominated by four businesses. This gives these corporations immense power.</p>
<p>Many small-scale farmers struggle to compete in global markets – especially those in poorer, less developed countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In an effort to keep up, these farmers also often go into debt to buy chemicals and expensive machinery to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00297-7">boost production</a>.</p>
<h2>What’s regenerative agriculture?</h2>
<p>Regenerative agriculture is proposed as a more sustainable alternative to industrial agriculture. It can include practices such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>integrating livestock into cropping systems to replenish soil and reduce the cost of animal feed and fertiliser</li>
<li>leaving soil undisturbed and covered with plants to retain carbon, moisture and nutrients and reduce erosion</li>
<li>regularly moving livestock between paddocks to give pasture a chance to recover </li>
<li>using less synthetic chemicals in farming.</li>
</ul>
<p>But can regenerative agriculture transform the global food system? Our research examined this question.</p>
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<img alt="cows grazing in field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Regenerative agriculture can involve rotating livestock between pastures to increase soil health.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Our research findings</h2>
<p>We explored the origins and current status of regenerative agriculture. We then compared this to other sustainable farming approaches: organic agriculture, conservation agriculture, sustainable intensification, and agroecology.</p>
<p>We found regenerative agriculture shares many similarities with the first three movements listed above. Most importantly, it originated in the rich, industrially developed <a href="https://ipes-food.org/_img/upload/files/SmokeAndMirrors.pdf">Global North</a>, primarily North America, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/land-of-opportunity-more-sustainable-australian-farming-would-protect-our-lucrative-exports-and-the-planet-166177">Land of opportunity: more sustainable Australian farming would protect our lucrative exports (and the planet)</a>
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<p>This means the movement often fails to credit Indigenous practices it draws from. It also tends to overlook the needs of farmers in the Global South and broader power inequality in the food system. </p>
<p>Like some other movements, regenerative agriculture is increasingly being embraced by corporations. <a href="https://www.nestle.com/csv/regeneration/regenerative-agriculture">Nestlé</a>, for instance, aims to source 50% of its key ingredients through regenerative agriculture by 2030. </p>
<p>There are concerns companies may be using regenerative agriculture to “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/can-regenerative-agriculture-reverse-climate-change-big-food-banking-it-n1072941">greenwash</a>” their image. For example, experts <a href="http://www.ipes-food.org/pages/smokeandmirrors">warn</a> corporations could be using the term to repackage existing commitments, rather than substantially improving their systems.</p>
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<h2>Agroecology: a different path</h2>
<p>We also found that regenerative agriculture is threatening to marginalise another promising sustainable farming movement: agroecology.</p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/agro/2009004">Agroecology</a> combines agronomy (agricultural science) and ecology, and also seeks to address injustice and inequity in food systems.</p>
<p>The movement is associated with the world’s largest smallholder farmer organisation, <a href="https://viacampesina.org/en/">La Via Campesina</a>, and has been endorsed by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2020.1808705">United Nations</a>.</p>
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<img alt="people march in protest holding sign in Spanish" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Agroecology is a global movement endorsed by the UN.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Agroecology advocates for Indigenous knowledge and land rights, and support for small-scale farmers. It seeks to <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/19/5272">challenge</a> neoliberalism, corporate dominance, and globalisation of food systems.</p>
<p>Some researchers <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305693875_How_to_feed_the_world_sustainably_an_overview_of_the_discourse_on_agroecology_and_sustainable_intensification">question</a> if agroecology alone can produce enough food for a growing global population. But <a href="https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2022-04/UNCCD_GLO2_low-res_2.pdf">80% of the world’s food</a>, in value terms, is produced by small family farms. And globally, we already grow enough food to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10440046.2012.695331">feed ten billion people</a>. The problem is how that food is distributed and wasted, and how much is made into <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/3/e008269">ultra-processed foods</a> and other products such as bio-fuels.</p>
<p>Agroecology brings many benefits to farmers and communities. An agroecology project in <a href="https://www.ipes-food.org/_img/upload/files/CS2_web.pdf">Chololo village</a> in Tanzania, for example, saw the number of households eating three meals per day rise from 29% to 62%. Average household income increased by 18%. The average period of food shortage shortened by 62% and agricultural yields increased by up to 70%.</p>
<p>But the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1051/agro/2009004">origins of the agroecology movement</a> in the Global South, and its resistance to corporatisation, mean it is often marginalised. At events such as the UN Food Systems Summit, for example, corporate stakeholders guide policy decisions while vulnerable farmers can <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/23/small-producers-boycott-un-food-summit-corporate-interests">feel sidelined</a>.</p>
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<img alt="two men prepare soil" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Agroecology focuses on both ecological and social principles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Transforming our food systems</h2>
<p>Despite regenerative agriculture’s popularity and its focus on sustainable food production, it fails to tackle systemic social and political issues. As a result, the movement may perpetuate business-as-usual in the food system, rather than transform it.</p>
<p>But our food system includes many landscapes and cultures. That means regenerative agriculture could still support more sustainable farming in some settings – though it’s not a catch-all solution.</p>
<p>And voices in regenerative agriculture have <a href="https://www.greenamerica.org/native-growers-decolonize-regenerative-agriculture?fbclid=IwAR1zwXhFddjPALOCrCed0yPyGmgPsoG_CUMhsVRDMg64DqQ4l8ba27BirPU">called for</a> a shift in the movement’s agenda, putting more emphasis on equity, justice and diversity. So there is hope yet that the movement may help turn the tide against industrial agriculture. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cotton-on-one-of-australias-most-lucrative-farming-industries-is-in-the-firing-line-as-climate-change-worsens-191864">Cotton on: one of Australia's most lucrative farming industries is in the firing line as climate change worsens</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203922/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anja Bless receives funding from the Australian Government research training program. </span></em></p>We know industrial farming needs to change. But regenerative agriculture may not be the transformation our global food system needs.Anja Bless, PhD Candidate, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1888952022-08-29T03:38:22Z2022-08-29T03:38:22ZA witty memoir of taking on the family farm reckons with Indigenous dispossession and climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480722/original/file-20220824-20-59ggeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=121%2C93%2C6081%2C3998&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sam Vincent on the farm.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lean Timms </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s been a tough couple of years for Australian farmers. Just months after Black Summer’s devastation, the pandemic struck. Catastrophic floods soon followed. <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/pests-diseases-weeds/animal/asf">African Swine Fever</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-foot-and-mouth-disease-why-farmers-fear-apocalyptic-bonfires-of-burning-carcasses-186741">foot and mouth</a> on our doorstep pose an enormous threat, as do the more banal issues of inflation and labour shortages.</p>
<p>Farmers are a resilient mob, but on top of all this, they’re feeling under attack. Cattle have become a poster child for climate emissions. Images of animal cruelty in intensive systems fuel assumptions about the whole sector. Urbanites downplay their own complicity in Indigenous dispossession through pointing to farmers.</p>
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<p><em>Review: My Father and Other Animals – Sam Vincent (Black Inc)</em></p>
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<p>Sam Vincent’s <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/my-father-and-other-animals">new book</a> is on one level a work of rural-urban translation. He pulls no punches in addressing agriculture’s negative impacts, but adds much-needed nuance through detailing how regenerative farmers are working to remediate the destruction wrought by settler-colonial extractive agriculture. </p>
<h2>Learning to farm</h2>
<p>The book’s narrative arc follows the succession of the family farm, located in the Yass Valley in the Australian Capital Territory’s northern tip. Divided into four parts, the book begins with Vincent’s entrée into farming life, slogging it out as his ageing father’s enthusiastic, if bumbling, farmhand.</p>
<p>At first glance, the book appears a light and comical portrait of his farming apprenticeship. Yet by weaving together the personal and political, Vincent provides a wealth of information on Australia’s settler history, industrial agriculture, and the regenerative turn. </p>
<p>Because the writing is clean, the humour tight, and the rural vignettes compelling, you often don’t even realise you’re being schooled. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480724/original/file-20220824-24-qpj3ls.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480724/original/file-20220824-24-qpj3ls.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480724/original/file-20220824-24-qpj3ls.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480724/original/file-20220824-24-qpj3ls.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480724/original/file-20220824-24-qpj3ls.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480724/original/file-20220824-24-qpj3ls.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480724/original/file-20220824-24-qpj3ls.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480724/original/file-20220824-24-qpj3ls.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Figs: a keystone species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided.</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Vincent’s farming know-how grows throughout part two, “Orchardist”, wherein he catalogues his foray into fig farming, alongside a warts-and-all but affectionate analysis of his father, and the neoliberalism he’s held to stand for. </p>
<p>The dizzying array of fig facts will leave you craving one of these richly symbolic flowers (not fruits!) that, as a keystone species, play a key role in fostering biodiversity. </p>
<p>One of the most fun facts is that in hipster circles, figs have more cultural cache than cattle. Assumptions about the livestock industry are hilariously captured in Vincent’s alternate Tinder profiles as either cattle or fig farmer (spoiler: he does find love online, but via Twitter, not Tinder).</p>
<h2>In praise of regenerative agriculture</h2>
<p>Garnished with spicy reflections on gender, class and familial dynamics in rural Australia, the meat and potatoes of the book are served in part three, “Grazier”. Drawing on his time at “grazing school” – a TAFE holistic management course – Vincent digs deep into the principles and practices of regenerative agriculture. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480725/original/file-20220824-20-ryjatq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480725/original/file-20220824-20-ryjatq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480725/original/file-20220824-20-ryjatq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480725/original/file-20220824-20-ryjatq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480725/original/file-20220824-20-ryjatq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480725/original/file-20220824-20-ryjatq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480725/original/file-20220824-20-ryjatq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480725/original/file-20220824-20-ryjatq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The book argues cows have a role in regenerative agriculture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided.</span></span>
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<p>After a detailed and incisive critique of the industrial cattle sector’s negative ecological impacts, Vincent makes a case for regenerative approaches. “It’s not the cow, it’s the how,” he intones, outlining the positive role cattle can play in agro-ecosystems that maximise carbon sequestration and foster biodiversity. </p>
<p>His dialectical style, talking back to his leftie mates in the city, makes for a compelling case. Indeed, Vincent’s positioning, with a foot in both the farming and urban left camps, means he will likely bring both sides along for the ride.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-managed-to-toilet-train-cows-and-they-learned-faster-than-a-toddler-it-could-help-combat-climate-change-167785">We managed to toilet train cows (and they learned faster than a toddler). It could help combat climate change</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Settler reckoning</h2>
<p>Regenerative agriculture is integrally concerned with social justice, and part four, “Settler”, provides the book’s most valuable contribution. </p>
<p>Dave, an archaeologist friend, surveys the farm and identifies an ochre quarry of considerable cultural and historical significance. The Vincents connect with local Ngambri, Ngunnawal and Ngunawal community members and begin a journey that takes several years to gazette the site as an “Aboriginal Place”. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480732/original/file-20220824-16-2sffb4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480732/original/file-20220824-16-2sffb4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480732/original/file-20220824-16-2sffb4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480732/original/file-20220824-16-2sffb4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480732/original/file-20220824-16-2sffb4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480732/original/file-20220824-16-2sffb4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480732/original/file-20220824-16-2sffb4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480732/original/file-20220824-16-2sffb4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An ochre quarry is found on the farm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided.</span></span>
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<p>Vincent seeks to inspire other farmers to let go of their fears and connect with the land’s traditional owners. He is at pains to relay that nothing is lost for his family in this process; they will always have access, and even grazing rights, to the site, while gaining so much. </p>
<p>Rather than relegate to the distant past “Australia’s foundational sin, the violent theft of the land that has enabled my family and our society to enrich itself”, Vincent looks to his family’s relatively recent history. </p>
<p>He notes the proximity of his mother’s cousin’s farm to the egregious <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-water-turned-red-remembering-the-indigenous-victims-of-the-warrigal-creek-massacre-20210207-p5709f.html">Warrigal Creek massacre</a>. He recalls his grandfather describing Indigenous people living on his Murray River property in the 1940s.</p>
<p>Facing the past in this way, and the implications this might have for the present and future, is uncomfortable. Vincent’s transparency about some of his less generous thoughts and occasional unease brings a rare honesty to the national conversation. </p>
<p>Vincent is not alone in this reckoning. Farmer-led organisations such as the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance have recently launched their <a href="https://afsa.org.au/blog/2021/07/03/first-peoples-first/">First Peoples First</a> policy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-agriculture-sector-sorely-needs-more-insights-from-first-nations-people-heres-how-we-get-there-173154">Australia's agriculture sector sorely needs more insights from First Nations people. Here's how we get there</a>
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<p>Victorian farmers I work with are <a href="https://paytherent.net.au/">paying the rent</a> to grassroots Indigenous organisations. Others in New South Wales and Queensland have given portions of their farms back to Traditional Owners, who are variously using the land to connect with Country, for ceremony, for growing traditional foods, and for tourism ventures.</p>
<p>There are no simple fixes for the dispossession and generations of pain and suffering settler Australians have inflicted on Indigenous Australians. The land question is particularly intractable. While many non-Indigenous Australians <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-great-australian-silence-50-years-on-100737">refuse to even adequately acknowledge</a> histories of genocide and displacement, a new generation of farmers is working hard to progress both social and ecological reparations. </p>
<h2>Drought and fire</h2>
<p>In the final chapters, the drought of 2017-19 is painfully rendered. After the hard sell of regenerative agriculture, Vincent concedes that in the face of such extreme conditions, there are limitations to even the best land management practices. </p>
<p>Yet, while no rain brings respite for the land, Vincent gifts readers some comic relief. His fig orchards, sparingly watered for a few hours each week, become a green oasis for him and his father. “We paused for a moment,” he recalls, “me on my haunches, Dad lying down in the manner of a come-hither kangaroo”. </p>
<p>Such delightfully idiosyncratic imagery aside, Vincent claims there “isn’t a vocabulary for what happened next”. Yet he manages to powerfully evoke the heart-wrenching fires of Black Summer: the months of relentlessness smoke, the fear and dread, the animal deaths, the ecosystem devastation, the human tragedy. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480726/original/file-20220824-22-6h01pu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480726/original/file-20220824-22-6h01pu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480726/original/file-20220824-22-6h01pu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480726/original/file-20220824-22-6h01pu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480726/original/file-20220824-22-6h01pu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480726/original/file-20220824-22-6h01pu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480726/original/file-20220824-22-6h01pu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480726/original/file-20220824-22-6h01pu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The impact of fires is powerfully evoked.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a powerful immediacy here given how recently the events of that terrible summer took place. </p>
<p>With the birth of his first child, the book returns to the succession theme and ends on a hopeful note. </p>
<p>Vincent has already demonstrated his writing chops via his first book, <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/blood-and-guts">Blood and Guts</a>, and his Walkley award-winning writing in publications including the Monthly and The Saturday Paper. The brilliance of this book is its multiple layers. Readers who come for the rollicking rural gambol will stay for the postcolonial politics and food system education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188895/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catie Gressier receives funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Project scheme (project number DE200100595). She is affiliated with the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia, and the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance. </span></em></p>Sam Vincent’s new book is a comic portrait of a farming apprenticeship, an interrogation of industrial agriculture and an example of how farmers are connecting with the land’s traditional owners.Catie Gressier, Research Fellow, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1835062022-06-06T19:23:42Z2022-06-06T19:23:42ZLong-standing systems for sustainable farming could feed people and the planet — if industry is willing to step back<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465818/original/file-20220527-25-519qnt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5559%2C2792&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Burren, in western Ireland, is home to a traditional regenerative system of cattle management known as winterage. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Philip Loring)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Global food systems are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.683100">at a breaking point</a>. Not only are they responsible for roughly <a href="https://drawdown.org/sectors/food-agriculture-land-use">a quarter</a> of global greenhouse gas emissions, they are also the top contributors to <a href="https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/CA0146EN/">water pollution</a> and <a href="https://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/food-systems-and-natural-resources">biodiversity collapse</a>. </p>
<p>On top of that, many aspects of our food systems are extremely vulnerable to disruptions from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-019-0010-4">climate change</a> and other shocks, as we saw in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01532-y">the first months of the pandemic</a>. </p>
<p>Agroecology — an approach to farming long practised by <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/healing-grounds">Indigenous</a> and <a href="https://bookstore.acresusa.com/products/in-the-shadow-of-green-man">peasant communities</a> around the world — could transform our food systems for the better. And agribusinesses in the Global North are actively looking to agroecology to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/08/19/regenerative-agriculture-the-next-trend-in-food-retailing/?sh=170ce8b42153">rebrand and build new markets</a> under the banners of <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-technologies-that-will-help-make-the-food-system-carbon-neutral-182846">carbon farming and regenerative agriculture</a>. </p>
<p>But, a relentless focus on single outcomes, such as <a href="https://digitally.cognizant.com/moving-beyond-carbon-tunnel-vision-with-a-sustainability-data-strategy-codex7121">carbon</a>, coupled with industry’s instinct to define and standardize, threatens the transformative potential of agroecology.</p>
<h2>Win-win food systems</h2>
<p>In addition to their immense ecological costs, our food systems are also <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-global-food-systems-are-rife-with-injustice-heres-how-we-can-change-this-163596">tremendously unjust</a>. As many as <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment#moderate-food-insecurity">one in four people</a> experience moderate or severe food insecurity. The global expansion of industrial agriculture <a href="https://foodispower.org/our-food-choices/colonization-food-and-the-practice-of-eating/">continues to be</a> a vehicle for the violent spread of colonialism. </p>
<p>Agroecology offers the promise of a <a href="https://www.findingournichebook.com/">win-win</a>, where people nourish themselves while <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-researchers-plant-seeds-of-hope-for-health-and-climate-106217">restoring ecosystems and addressing the harms and legacies of colonialism</a>. </p>
<p>It is also at the centre of the <a href="https://foodsecurecanada.org/who-we-are/what-food-sovereignty">food sovereignty movement</a>, a global constellation of peasant- and Indgenous-led organizations fighting for the right to healthy and culturally appropriate food, produced in a way that is ecologically sound and socially acceptable. Food sovereignty is arguably the single <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/food-sovereignty">largest social movement</a> in the world. </p>
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<img alt="A woman in a striped shirt hoists a bundle of corn ears with a rope." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467225/original/file-20220606-16-67k9mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467225/original/file-20220606-16-67k9mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467225/original/file-20220606-16-67k9mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467225/original/file-20220606-16-67k9mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467225/original/file-20220606-16-67k9mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467225/original/file-20220606-16-67k9mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467225/original/file-20220606-16-67k9mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A member of the Rural Women’s Farmers Association of Ghana hangs corn to preserve the seeds for sowing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Global Justice Now/flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>La Via Campesina, the movement’s largest organization, represents over <a href="https://www.tni.org/en/transnational-institute">200 million farmers</a> in 70 countries. And the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, which operates <a href="https://afsafrica.org/our-members/">in 50 countries</a>, is the largest civil society movement on the continent. </p>
<p>Agroecology aligns with the food sovereignty movement because it is <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-61315-0_2">inherently emancipatory and democratic</a>. Where industrial food production emphasizes scalability and proprietary technology, consolidating and controlling power and wealth, agroecological practices require wealth and power to be held locally. Producers must have the freedom, flexibility and resources to <a href="https://ensia.com/voices/food-production-regenerative-agriculture-scale/">build healthy and just relationships</a> in communities and among the people and the land. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/too-many-people-not-enough-food-isnt-the-cause-of-hunger-and-food-insecurity-179168">'Too many people, not enough food' isn't the cause of hunger and food insecurity</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>For example, crop development through genetic modification <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-021-10265-3">is closed off to many</a> by intellectual property laws, patents and the high technological competencies and equipment involved. On-farm domestication and breeding are, by contrast, democratic technologies because they necessarily open and entirely reliant on local knowledge and sharing. </p>
<h2>Colonizing agroecology</h2>
<p>Corporate plans to invest in regenerative agriculture appear to be mere appropriations of agroecological practices, <a href="https://thecounter.org/regenerative-agriculture-racial-equity-climate-change-carbon-farming-environmental-issues/">hollowed out of their potential</a> for supporting broad societal transformation.</p>
<p>Agroecological systems are networks of relationships, not collections of practices. They cannot be easily rendered into a set of definitions, standards or technological principles. </p>
<p>For example, Indigenous agroforestry, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102257">a system of forest relations called <em>chagra</em></a>, played an essential role in establishing the rich biodiversity of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/its-now-clear-that-ancient-humans-helped-enrich-the-amazon/518439">much of the Amazon</a>. For the practitioners, <em>chagra</em> cannot be distinguished from the forest itself. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-we-raise-livestock-sustainably-a-win-win-solution-for-climate-change-deforestation-and-biodiversity-loss-176416">Can we raise livestock sustainably? A win-win solution for climate change, deforestation and biodiversity loss</a>
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<p>Reginaldo Haslet-Marroquin, CEO of the <a href="https://www.regenagalliance.org/">Regenerative Agriculture Alliance</a>, describes the push to define regenerative agriculture as an act of colonization. “It is fundamental for achieving a regenerative outcome to <em>not</em> define it,” <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/episode/49547148">he told me in a recent interview</a>. “To <em>not</em> reduce it to our myopic understanding of things … to the limitations of our colonizing minds. … Rather, we seek to understand what is, and what isn’t regenerative.”</p>
<p>To put it another way, regenerative is not a technological claim but an ethical one related to how we link knowledge and wisdom <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-021-10282-2">to organize ourselves and our practices</a> in relation to one another and to the land. </p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="59" data-image="" data-title="Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin - Excerpt from the Second Transition Podcast, Episode 13." data-size="979192" data-source="(Philip Loring)" data-source-url="https://www.spreaker.com/episode/49547148" data-license="CC BY-NC-SA" data-license-url="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">
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Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin - Excerpt from the Second Transition Podcast, Episode 13.
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.spreaker.com/episode/49547148">(Philip Loring)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a><span class="download"><span>956 KB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2514/00-audiograms-regi-teaser-2.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
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<h2>An ethical space</h2>
<p>Standards and definitions can help expose <a href="https://modernfarmer.com/2021/07/what-is-greenwashing/">greenwashing</a>, but they can also have unintended consequences. My research on Alaska fisheries, for example, offered <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23360333">lessons</a> about how focusing only on the environmental dimensions of sustainability can perpetuate or even worsen social inequities. </p>
<p>The Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) certification, which is the largest framework for fishery sustainability, has also been critiqued along similar lines. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2015.10.003">MSC has improved ecological practices</a> in fisheries and created new ways for businesses to profit from fisheries, but it has also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0366.2011.00345.x">marginalized some communities</a> and created <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104526">barriers to entry</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12683">boundaries to innovation</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467222/original/file-20220606-18-y5rcah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An aerial view of an island coastline with a rocky wall creating an intertidal pool area." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467222/original/file-20220606-18-y5rcah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467222/original/file-20220606-18-y5rcah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467222/original/file-20220606-18-y5rcah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467222/original/file-20220606-18-y5rcah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467222/original/file-20220606-18-y5rcah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467222/original/file-20220606-18-y5rcah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467222/original/file-20220606-18-y5rcah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A large clam garden terrace in the Gulf Islands, B.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Mary Morris, Simon Fraser University/flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Agroecological systems are <a href="https://theconversation.com/regenerative-agriculture-can-make-farmers-stewards-of-the-land-again-110570">as diverse</a> as the people practising them and the places where they are practised. <a href="https://clamgarden.com/">Indigenous clam gardens</a> in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska are a world away from the system of ranching known as <a href="https://www.burrenwinterage.com/">cattle winterage</a> in the Burren of Ireland. But they share an ethical landscape defined by a commitment to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2012.06.008">social and ecological justice</a>. </p>
<p>There is no doubt that regenerative agriculture and other agroecological practices can help address climate change, including by <a href="https://capi-icpa.ca/explore/resources/translating-science-to-policy-approaches-to-increase-soil-carbon-sequestration-in-canadas-croplands/">sequestering carbon in the soil</a>. But, at a time when innovation and diffusion of new ideas are urgently needed, fostering an ethical agroecological space where people can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.05.016">experiment</a> and <a href="https://ccafs.cgiar.org/resources/publications/social-learning-practice-review-lessons-impacts-and-tools-climate">share</a> is a more promising theory of change than creating mechanisms to enforce uniformity and exclusion. </p>
<p>Agribusiness has an opportunity to be part of a global transition to more ecologically sound and socially just food systems. That will require the sector to set aside narrow understandings of the problem and abandon the imperative to colonize the spaces of innovation long-held by Indigenous Peoples and other racialized people around the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183506/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip A Loring receives funding from the Arrell Food Institute, from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada</span></em></p>Industry seeks to capitalize on regenerative agriculture, but standards that focus only on carbon or other select environmental metrics will undermine its transformative potentialPhilip A Loring, Associate Professor and Arrell Chair in Food, Policy, and Society, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1741812022-01-26T13:27:04Z2022-01-26T13:27:04ZThe herbicide dicamba was supposed to solve farmers’ weed problems – instead, it’s making farming harder for many of them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442064/original/file-20220122-25-9rovsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C0%2C5760%2C3794&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Soybean plants on an Arkansas farm. Those at left show signs of damage from dicamba; others at right were planted later in the season.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/at-david-wildys-soybean-fields-on-the-left-soybean-plants-news-photo/842398912">Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In October 2021 I was a guest on a popular podcast to discuss my recently published book, “<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324002048">Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future</a>,” which examines the agribusiness giant’s influence on the global food system. After the show, I got a lot of calls from around the world, but one really stood out to me: A farmer speaking on his cellphone from the seat of his combine in South Dakota as he harvested soybeans.</p>
<p>Farmers don’t like to stop tractors on good-weather days in the fall, but this was important. The caller wanted to talk about a chemical weedkiller called <a href="http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/dicamba_gen.html">dicamba</a> that had been sprayed on neighboring fields. He claimed it was damaging his crops. And he wasn’t alone.</p>
<p>In 2021, <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OPP-2020-0492-0021">thousands of U.S. growers</a> reported to the Environmental Protection Agency that dicamba sprayed by other farmers – sometimes <a href="https://investigatemidwest.org/2020/10/29/epa-documents-show-dicamba-damage-worse-than-previously-thought/">up to a mile and a half away</a> – damaged crops in their fields. Complaints came from all over the country.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OPP-2020-0492-0021">The list</a> of affected plants was astounding: sycamore, oak and elm trees; azaleas, black-eyed Susans and roses; garden tomatoes, peppers and peas. <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OPP-2020-0492-0003">According to an EPA memorandum</a>, there were 2,700 “dicamba incidents,” affecting about 3.6 million acres, in 2017. Two years later, the number of incidents ballooned to 3,300. </p>
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<p>This problem has been building for over five years, and the EPA acknowledges that the modest controls it has required, such as creating buffer zones around fields, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pesticides/epa-releases-summary-dicamba-related-incident-reports-2021-growing-season">aren’t working</a>. But tighter curbs on use of dicamba aren’t likely before the 2022 growing season starts in the spring, because they would require a <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pesticides/epa-releases-summary-dicamba-related-incident-reports-2021-growing-season">complicated legal process</a>. </p>
<p>Why is it so hard to address this national problem? Answering that question requires looking back to 1996, when a revolution transformed American agriculture.</p>
<h2>From Roundup to dicamba</h2>
<p>Weeds have always been an expensive headache for farmers. A 2016 study estimated that if left uncontrolled, weeds would cut corn and soybean yields in North America roughly in half, causing <a href="https://wssa.net/wssa/weed/croploss-2/">US$43 billion in yearly economic losses</a> just from those two crops. One of the problems farmers face is that weeds are very good at evolving resistance to chemical products used to kill them, so herbicides lose their effectiveness over time.</p>
<p>Weed problems became especially bad in the late 1980s and early 1990s as widely used herbicides called ALS inhibitors <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/074823379901500120">became less and less effective</a>. That’s why farmers were enthusiastic about Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” crops, first introduced in 1996. </p>
<p>These plants were engineered to resist heavy spraying of Monsanto’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/02/business/the-power-of-roundup-a-weed-killer-is-a-block-for-monsanto-to-build-on.html">blockbuster herbicide, Roundup</a>. Monsanto had developed and patented glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, in the 1970s, but the advent of Roundup Ready seeds made glyphosate sales explode.</p>
<p>It seemed like a magical system: Farmers could treat fields with glyphosate throughout the growing season without hurting their crops. For a few years, overall herbicide use dropped: Farmers used glyphosate in huge quantities, but stopped buying most other herbicides. </p>
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<figure><figcaption><span class="caption">Use of glyphosate has increased dramatically since the introduction of Roundup Ready seeds starting in 1996 (move slider to compare 1995 and 2019 usage).</span></figcaption></figure>
<p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19970714063108/http://www.monsanto.com/monpub/environment/monsantoear96/96earall.pdf">Monsanto asserted</a> that this approach would <a href="http://extension.agron.iastate.edu/weeds/weednews/roundupcottonad.htm">make farming more sustainable</a> by reducing long-term use of herbicides and pesticides – especially older, more toxic brands. Soon, however, the system started to falter. </p>
<p>In the early 2000s, scientists began reporting that weeds were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.4760">evolving resistance to Roundup</a>. In response, Monsanto rolled out a new generation of genetically engineered seeds that would make crops resistant to a wider array of older herbicides. Farmers could use these older products along with Roundup, improving their chances of killing most weeds.</p>
<p>One of the chemicals Monsanto bet on was dicamba, first introduced in the 1960s. In 2015 and 2016, the company began producing seeds <a href="https://www.roundupreadyxtend.com/products/pages/default.aspx">branded “Roundup Ready Xtend</a>” that were engineered to tolerate heavy spraying of both dicamba and glyphosate. The logic was that dicamba would eliminate glyphosate-resistant weeds, and glyphosate would wipe out all other unwanted vegetation.</p>
<h2>A solution becomes a problem</h2>
<p>It quickly became clear that this fix was seriously flawed. Dicamba is <a href="https://extension.umn.edu/herbicides/uncovering-dicambas-wayward-ways">one of the most volatile herbicides on the market</a>, meaning that it changes readily from a liquid to a vapor in warm temperatures. When farmers sprayed dicamba on hot days, it tended to vaporize and drift off target, spreading to fields and farms that often were not planted with crops genetically engineered to tolerate it. The South Dakota farmer who called me from his combine was harvesting organic soybeans that did not contain Monsanto’s Xtend traits. </p>
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<p>Maddeningly for farmers, Monsanto had seen this coming. In a 2020 federal court case, <a href="https://casetext.com/case/bader-farms-inc-v-monsanto-co-18">Bader Farms v. Monsanto</a>, confidential company documents revealed that the firm was aware that dicamba sprayed on Xtend crops would likely drift off target. Monsanto sales representatives even called this a sales point for dicamba-tolerant seeds. “Push ‘protection from your neighbor,’” one <a href="https://usrtk.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/dicamba-PLTF-22.pdf">slide in an internal 2013 sales presentation suggested</a>. </p>
<p>Farmers started complaining about dicamba drift soon after Monsanto introduced its first Xtend seeds. The Trump administration ordered farmers not to spray dicamba in buffer zones around fields, and to <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-10/documents/dicamba-decision_10-27-2020.pdf">restrict dicamba application to particular times of day</a>, but this had little effect. </p>
<p>Amid this controversy, the EPA extended approval in 2018 for three dicamba-based herbicides. But the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals <a href="https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/125--dicamba-opinion_35970.pdf">revoked this decision in June 2020</a>, ruling that the agency had ignored or downplayed evidence of damage from dicamba and failed to consider how its licensed use would “tear the social fabric of farming communities.” In response, EPA approved new dicamba licenses with some <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-2020-dicamba-registration-decision">additional control measures</a> that it asserted met the court’s concerns.</p>
<h2>A chemical arms race</h2>
<p>Now the Biden administration is weighing how to address dicamba – and none too soon. Farmers reportedly are seeing weeds that have <a href="https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/crops/article/2021/07/03/weed-resistance-dicamba-2-4-d-rise">developed resistance to dicamba and other herbicides</a> recommended for use with a new generation of genetically engineered seeds. According to weed specialists, this is happening precisely because farmers are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/magazine/superweeds-monsanto.html">using such large quantities of these chemicals</a> during the growing season. </p>
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<p>Seed companies like the German firm Bayer, which now owns Monsanto’s product portfolio, say one solution is for farmers to buy seeds that can tolerate a wider array of weedkillers. Recently, for example, Bayer sought approval for a new line of seeds that would make crops resistant to <a href="https://civileats.com/2020/07/01/bayer-forges-ahead-with-new-crops-resistant-to-5-herbicides-glyphosate-dicamba-2-4-d-glufosinate-quizalofop/">five different types of herbicides</a>.</p>
<p>For farmers, this will mean greater reliance on an expanding array of petrochemicals, and therefore higher costs. Today, U.S. farmers <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/business/gmo-promise-falls-short.html">use more than twice as much herbicide</a> to grow soybeans as they did before Roundup Ready crops were introduced. </p>
<p>I see dicamba drift as a symptom of a larger petrochemical dependency that threatens the viability of the U.S. food system. My research in this area makes clear that if federal agencies really want to help farmers solve weed problems, they would do well to look to agricultural innovators who are demonstrating that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2017.8">crops can be grown productively and profitably</a> without relying so heavily on synthetic pesticides. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>In the U.S. and around the world, farmers are seeking alternative ways to deal with weeds. Some are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219847">diversifying what they grow</a>, using time-honored practices like <a href="https://www.farmers.gov/blog/conservation/discover-cover-managing-cover-crops-suppress-weeds-and-save-money-herbicides">cover cropping</a>, and looking to innovative methods coming out of a resurgent <a href="https://theconversation.com/regenerative-agriculture-can-make-farmers-stewards-of-the-land-again-110570">regenerative farming movement</a>. </p>
<p>If these tools can create a future agricultural economy less reliant on petrochemicals derived from finite resources, I believe it would be welcome news not just to farmers but also to those of us who depend on them for our food.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174181/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bart Elmore receives funding from the New America Foundation in Washington, DC, and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and Columbia's University's School of Journalism.</span></em></p>Farmers are stuck in a chemical war against weeds, which have developed resistance to many widely used herbicides. Seed companies’ answer – using more varied herbicides – is causing new problems.Bart Elmore, Associate Professor of History and Core Faculty in the Sustainability Institute, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1659382021-11-17T13:19:10Z2021-11-17T13:19:10ZAn environmental sociologist explains how permaculture offers a path to climate justice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418142/original/file-20210826-13-1s293dd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C25%2C5716%2C3802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Permaculture practitioners manage their gardens or farms in ways inspired by the sustainability and resilience of healthy natural ecosystems.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-couple-working-in-farm-royalty-free-image/1190855118?adppopup=true">simonkr/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Big farming is both a victim of climate change and a contributor. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21683565.2017.1330795">Droughts, floods</a> and soil degradation threaten crop yields. But agriculture <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00225-9">produces</a> nearly one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>A potential antidote to harmful monocultures is a form of community farming invented back in the 1970s: permaculture. Permaculture is not just about farming; it incorporates economic and social principles. </p>
<p>I am an <a href="https://sociology.utk.edu/faculty/ergas.php">environmental sociologist</a>, and I have witnessed permaculture working in two urban farming communities. I study ways that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.03.008">environmental justice, global development and social equity</a> affect climate change.</p>
<p>Permaculture’s three main tenets – caring for the Earth, caring for the people and sharing the surplus – offer a potential path toward climate justice, which is a response to well-researched phenomena that climate change disproportionately harms underprivileged groups in economic, public health and other ways, and solutions to climate change should include adaptation strategies <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/07/what-is-climate-justice/">designed specifically for underprivileged groups</a>.</p>
<p>I spent time at two communities in the Pacific Northwest and in Cuba during the fieldwork for my book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/surviving-collapse-9780197544105?q=ergas&lang=en&cc=us">“Surviving Collapse.”</a> I witnessed how the communities worked to cut emissions and adapt to climate change in two ways: with egalitarian social organization and regenerative farming techniques.</p>
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<h2>Permaculture was born in Australia</h2>
<p>In the 1970s, two Australian naturalists, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, invented permaculture, a method of growing that considers the natural ecosystem and the community. They wanted to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-013-0181-6">change agriculture’s</a> unsustainable practices, like the heavy use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. </p>
<p>Mollison and Holmgren borrowed ideas and techniques from the knowledge and practices of Indigenous and traditional peoples, as well as the “do-nothing” farming methods of Japanese farmer and philosopher <a href="https://www.nyrb.com/products/the-one-straw-revolution?variant=1094932353">Masanobu Fukuoka</a>. Today permaculture is an international movement that, although understudied, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-013-0181-6">shows great promise.</a></p>
<p>Permaculture aims to care for the Earth by emulating how healthy natural ecosystems function rather than trying to fight or control nature. Its methods are regenerative, meaning that they <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/304/5677/1623">maintain healthy, nutrient-rich soils,</a> minimize waste, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178332">conserve water</a> and protect wildlife habitat. Permaculture often produces crops that are more nutritious than those from industrial farms and, in some cases, <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2014.1396">yields greater harvests</a>.</p>
<p>Permaculture differs from organic farming in that organic is a legal designation about regulating genetically modified organisms and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, whereas regenerative agriculture is more concerned with ecosystem and soil health. Both permaculture and organic methods sometimes manage fertilizers or pests in similar ways. However, as <a href="https://store.holmgren.com.au/product/principles-and-pathways/">Holmgren has emphasized</a> “people, their buildings and the ways they organize themselves are central to permaculture.” </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Permaculture’s other founder, Bill Mollison, said, “A sustainable system is a system that in its lifetime can produce more energy than it takes to establish and maintain it.”</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Permaculture in the Pacific Northwest</h2>
<p>Two of the communities I observed practiced permaculture’s principles of caring for the Earth and people and <a href="https://www.ic.org/directory/ecovillages/">sharing the surplus</a>.</p>
<p>I call one place I studied in 2007 Asaṅga – the name is made up to give my subjects confidentiality. It’s a 1-acre, 30-person “ecovillage,” or environmental intentional community, in the Pacific Northwest – the agricultural efforts involve a variety of permaculture practices to maintain the soil, ranging from composting food scraps to fertilizing gardens with chicken manure. </p>
<p>To avoid synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, the ecovillagers use techniques like “polyculture” – mimicking the diversity of natural ecosystems by simultaneously growing several different crops in the same place. For instance, they plant food crops with cover crops such as lentils, peas, beans and soybeans that increase the soil’s natural fertility, manage erosion and help retain soil moisture. </p>
<p>Asaṅga residents practice ecological pest management, in which they proactively prevent pests rather than attempt to eradicate them after they’ve arrived. One way they do this is through “companion planting” – growing food crops together with noncompetitive, pest-repelling plant species like marigold, mint or sage.</p>
<p>Asaṅga irrigates crops with captured rainwater and filters wastewater from low-impact activities like dishwashing or bathing for its decorative fountain in the village center.</p>
<h2>Permaculture in Cuba</h2>
<p>The farmers at a 27-acre urban farm in Havana, Cuba, that I call el Organopónico – again, a made-up name – share similar concerns and practices. The farm’s roughly 200 cooperative members manage 11 areas, such as livestock, fields and nursery, so that each contributes to another.</p>
<p>They save manure from the bulls in the livestock area – which are employed to transport heavy equipment – to feed the worms at the vermiculture station. The worms consume the manure and expel their own waste, or humus, which is combined with compost and rice shells to make soil and fertilizer for trays of tomatoes, lettuce, onions, garlic, guava, mint, and chamomile seedlings in the plant nursery.</p>
<p>Very little is wasted at el Organopónico. Even overripe crops are turned into condiments or are composted. The farmers also recycle potential waste by cleaning and reusing soda bottles for value-added products on the farm, such as tomato paste.</p>
<h2>Farms run by community consensus</h2>
<p>The permaculture principle of caring for the people refers to making sure people can meet basic needs for healthy food and good homes. It also sets expectations for the ways communities organize themselves to make decisions, manage conflict and achieve larger goals like providing education.</p>
<p>At Asaṅga, people pay rent to live at the community. Residents together decide community issues, such as what to do with the geese on the property and where to store the compost. At bimonthly meetings, ecovillagers decide most questions by consensus.</p>
<p>El Organopónico is led by a president who was voted into leadership. At the farm, they meet monthly, and everyone votes on new proposals, which pass by simple majority. This farm is a workers’ cooperative. The members own the machinery, inputs like seeds or fertilizers and the produce they grow. They pay the government a subsidized rent for the land.</p>
<h2>Sharing surplus can slow overconsumption</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-humans-are-depleting-earths-resources-but-footprint-estimates-dont-tell-the-full-story-100705">Human populations are consuming far more</a> in a given year than the Earth can replenish and creating waste much faster than the Earth can assimilate it. This is a global problem, but the worst offenders are affluent people of the West. </p>
<p>Sharing surplus is a way of limiting consumption. Asaṅga residents share in many ways. Community meetings are potlucks where villagers share food from their gardens. One community member shared bread from a local bakery that gave away leftovers. Ecovillagers share tools, knowledge and other resources.</p>
<p>Farmers at el Organopónico share surplus through wages. During my fieldwork, the farmers earned a decent wage by Cuban standards, and wages at the farm were capped and calculated based on years employed at the farm. Workers began at a minimum salary and earned a raise every five years. In times of surplus, profits were evenly distributed. </p>
<p>Although my research focused on only two small communities, I believe the principles of permaculture offer an important model because they address both the environmental and social challenges posed by climate change.</p>
<p>Permaculture holds powerful lessons that could guide many countries to save resources and cut emissions, thus finding a balance between production and consumption.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165938/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Ergas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Permaculture – a mashup of ‘permanent’ and ‘culture’ – is a way of doing agriculture that’s inspired by the resilience and biodiversity of healthy natural ecosystems.Christina Ergas, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1661772021-08-22T20:06:51Z2021-08-22T20:06:51ZLand of opportunity: more sustainable Australian farming would protect our lucrative exports (and the planet)<p>The European Union is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-17/australian-exporters-pay-the-price-with-european-carbon-tax/100379998">pressing ahead</a> with carbon border levies – charges on carbon-intensive goods from countries such as Australia that haven’t taken strong action to reduce emissions. The EU will impose such measures on a range of imported industrial materials including aluminium, steel and cement. </p>
<p>But what if these tariffs are one day applied to another key Australian export industry: agriculture? As National Farmers’ Federation chief executive Tony Mahar <a href="https://www.farmonline.com.au/story/7348275/eu-carbon-tariff-avoids-ag-for-now-but-sector-cant-be-naive/">said</a> last month:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Business and governments across the world are embedding carbon abatement considerations into their trade negotiations and relationships. As an industry dependent on exporting, Australian agriculture must be ready to adjust to a more carbon-conscious trading future. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In addition to a substantial greenhouse gas footprint from agriculture, Australia also has a truly terrible record on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337080985_Spending_to_save_What_will_it_cost_to_halt_Australia%27s_extinction_crisis">biodiversity loss</a>. The argument for farmers to adopt more sustainable practices – and for governments to help the shift – is growing ever more compelling. Not only would it safeguard our exports, it would cut emissions and help protect nature.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="aerial view of cows and ute" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C11%2C3758%2C2494&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian farming must prepare for a more carbon-conscious future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looming carbon tariffs</h2>
<p>The EU policy, known formally as the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/green-taxation-0/carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism_en">Carbon Border Adjustment Measure</a>, aims to shield local industries operating under the EU’s emissions trading scheme and other similar policies. </p>
<p>From 2026, EU importers of some commodities must buy carbon certificates <a href="https://www.austrade.gov.au/news/insights/the-limited-impact-of-the-european-union-s-carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism-on-australian-agriculture">equivalent to</a> the cost that would have been incurred had the goods been produced under the EU’s emissions trading scheme. </p>
<p>The measure is meant to level the playing field – protecting EU companies from competition by producers in countries that don’t have carbon price regimes. The policy also pressures exporting countries to implement their own effective emissions policies.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-point-protesting-australia-faces-carbon-levies-unless-it-changes-course-155200">No point protesting, Australia faces carbon levies unless it changes course</a>
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<p>Australia does not export large volumes of industrial commodities to Europe, so the <a href="https://cdn.aigroup.com.au/Reports/2021/Carbon_Border_Adjustments_Policy_Paper.pdf?_cldee=dGVubmFudC5yZWVkQGFpZ3JvdXAuY29tLmF1&recipientid=contact-7ddca4953c244fa7b29d57951052d4d8-0e0c0eaf389c455685f07176f427283e&esid=26f33b4a-56fe-eb11-94ef-00224810dcd3">immediate effect</a> of the carbon tariff will be small. However, in 2026 the EU will <a href="https://www.austrade.gov.au/news/insights/the-limited-impact-of-the-european-union-s-carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism-on-australian-agriculture">consider</a> extending the measure’s scope to other products. </p>
<p>Carbon tariffs could also be imposed by other countries Australia exports to, as they increasingly demand cleaner production of goods, and as the principle of free trade seemingly <a href="https://theconversation.com/was-2016-the-year-the-world-turned-its-back-on-free-trade-67240">diminishes</a> in importance. These tariffs could also apply to goods subject to regulation, in addition to emissions trading schemes.</p>
<p>There is no immediate prospect of a carbon tariff on agriculture. But as many countries toughen their emissions targets to 2030 and adopt or strengthen net-zero targets, agriculture could become part of the mix. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Eu flags with building in background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The EU carbon border tariff aims to protect European producers operating under a carbon price.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">OLIVIER HOSLET/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Carbon levies on agriculture?</h2>
<p>Agriculture accounts for about 13% of Australia’s <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-12/australias-emissions-projections-2020.pdf">total greenhouse gas emissions</a>. The main source of emissions is methane from cattle and sheep. Others include rice fields, fertiliser use, agricultural waste and fuel use. </p>
<p>The industry is clearly sensitive to the problem. The National Farmers’ Federation has <a href="https://nff.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2020.08.06_Policy_NRM_Climate_Change.pdf">endorsed</a> an economy-wide net-zero “aspiration”. It’s also calling for investments in carbon-neutral agricultural technologies to, among other goals, develop new export markets. Meat and Livestock Australia has set a 2030 <a href="https://www.mla.com.au/globalassets/mla-corporate/research-and-development/documents/cn30-information-sheet-final.pdf">carbon-neutral goal</a> for the red meat industry. </p>
<p>If Australia’s major trading partners apply carbon tariffs to agricultural products in future, Australian farmers will have a big incentive to make production less emissions-intensive. Potential ways to achieve this include:</p>
<ul>
<li>better soil and native vegetation cover management</li>
<li>less fertiliser use</li>
<li>switching to lower-emitting sheep and cattle breeds</li>
<li>feed additives which make livestock emit less methane</li>
<li>moving from ruminant livestock to other sources of meat, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-us-ban-on-kangaroo-leather-would-be-an-animal-welfare-disaster-and-a-missed-farming-opportunity-155904">kangaroo</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Such measures can result in <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/an/AN16438">increased agricultural productivity</a>. </p>
<p>There are two ways Australia can avoid a carbon tariff on agriculture exports. First, agriculture can adopt cleaner production methods and have its goods certified as produced with low emissions. Second, the federal government can implement a comprehensive emissions-reduction policy, which in agriculture might mean minimum production standards to avoid high emissions practices or a <a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-pricing-works-the-largest-ever-study-puts-it-beyond-doubt-142034">carbon price</a> where practicable. </p>
<p>The existing Emissions Reductions Fund would not help avoid carbon tariffs. This is because it applies only to businesses that opt in, and it subsidises emission-reduction projects rather that placing obligations on those who generate emissions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-pricing-works-the-largest-ever-study-puts-it-beyond-doubt-142034">Carbon pricing works: the largest-ever study puts it beyond doubt</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="farmer feeds cattle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Additives to stock feed can lead to fewer methane emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tariffs on biodiversity loss?</h2>
<p>In future, environmental border tariffs could well extend to a broader set of environmental harms, such as biodiversity loss.</p>
<p>Australia’s record on species loss is truly <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337080985_Spending_to_save_What_will_it_cost_to_halt_Australia%27s_extinction_crisis">appalling</a> – including in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230817486_Impacts_of_red_meat_production_on_biodiversity_in_Australia_A_review_and_comparison_with_alternative_protein_production_industries">agricultural landscapes</a> which have been heavily modified.</p>
<p>Some countries are already using financial incentives to reduce damage to nature. For example, plans by the UK government would require farmers to demonstrate <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/30/environment-to-benefit-from-biggest-farming-shake-up-in-50-years">environmental improvements</a> to receive farming subsidies.</p>
<p>A key challenge for the agriculture sector is to simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve biodiversity outcomes. There are proven, <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7844/">science-based ways</a> to do this, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>protecting patches of remnant native vegetation which provides habitat for animals and helps draw down and store carbon from the atmosphere </li>
<li>creating <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256089">healthy farm dams</a> which can provide higher-quality drinking water for livestock, improve farm productivity and create wildlife habitat</li>
<li>planting “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/emr.12303">shelterbelts</a>” – strips of woody vegetation that shelter livestock from wind and sun, provide wildlife habitat (when well designed and managed), and prevent moisture loss from soil. </li>
</ul>
<p>This integrated approach to agricultural production, climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation is being researched and championed by the Australian National University’s <a href="https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/">Sustainable Farms</a> project.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="girl runs past dam" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Changes the management of dams of farms can improve biodiversity and farm production.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Lorimer/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Future-proofing Australian farming</h2>
<p>The Australian government has recognised the need for farming solutions to both climate change and biodiversity loss. For example, it’s currently developing a <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/ag-farm-food/natural-resources/landcare/sustaining-future-australian-farming/carbon-biodiversity-pilot">stewardship program</a> to encourage farmers to improve environmental conditions on their land. </p>
<p>A crucial part of this and similar schemes will be establishing reliable systems for estimating and certifying farm emissions and biodiversity outcomes. Indeed, robust long-term monitoring is vital for such schemes to be seen as credible, nationally and internationally.</p>
<p>The opportunities are ripe for Australian farmers to adopt far more environmentally sustainable land management practices, and in the process, safeguard or even expand Australian agricultural exports.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-farmers-want-more-climate-action-and-theyre-starting-in-their-own-huge-backyards-144792">Australia's farmers want more climate action – and they’re starting in their own (huge) backyards</a>
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</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank Jotzo leads and has led research projects funded by a variety of funders. He is the economics director at the Sustainable Farms project at The Australian National University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian Government, the Ian Potter Foundation, the William Buckland Foundation, the Australian Research Council, the Riverina Local land Services and Murray Local Land Services.
David Lindenmayer is a Research Director in the Sustainable Farms project at The Australian National University. </span></em></p>Adopting more environmentally conscious farm models would safeguard our agricultural exports, cut emissions and help protect nature.Frank Jotzo, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy and Head of Energy, Institute for Climate Energy and Disaster Solutions, Australian National UniversityDavid Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1613612021-07-02T04:21:17Z2021-07-02T04:21:17ZNature is a public good. A plan to save it using private markets doesn’t pass muster<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409422/original/file-20210702-18-1ktg5me.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5218%2C2933&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the health of Australia’s environment continues to <a href="https://theconversation.com/even-after-the-rains-australias-environment-scores-a-3-out-of-10-these-regions-are-struggling-the-most-157590">decline</a>, the federal government is wagering on the ability of private markets to help solve the problem. So is this a wise move? The evidence is not at all encouraging.</p>
<p>This year’s federal budget included <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/ag-farm-food/natural-resources/landcare/sustaining-future-australian-farming">A$32.1 million</a> to promote so-called “biodiversity stewardship”, in which farmers who adopt more sustainable practices can earn money on private markets. The funding will be used to trial new programs to protect existing native vegetation, implement a certification scheme and set up a trading platform.</p>
<p>It all sounds very promising. But sadly, the experience of environmental markets and certification schemes to date suggests farmers may not embrace the opportunities. In fact, preliminary research funded by the government suggests the odds are well and truly stacked against this approach succeeding. </p>
<p>Environmental markets cannot adequately compensate for decades of diminished government funding for long term, reliable measures to promote better land management.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="hands with coins sprouting seedlings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Environmental markets are not a replacement for sustained public funding of environmental protection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s the plan all about?</h2>
<p>Agriculture <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/news/media-releases/2017/snapshot-aus-ag-reveals-record-production-2016-17">covers 58%</a> of Australia’s land mass. This means farmers are crucial to maintaining a healthy environment upon which production, communities and the economy depend.</p>
<p>Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the new funding means farmers will be paid to undertake biodiversity projects – “a win-win for farmers and the environment”. In an interview with the ABC, Littleproud <a href="https://minister.awe.gov.au/littleproud/speeches-and-transcripts/abc-country-hour-budget-biodiversity-soils">said</a> “we want the market to come and pay our farmers for this, not the Australian taxpayer”.</p>
<p>The new funding will pay for:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a “carbon + biodiversity” pilot project to develop a market-based mechanism to reward farmers for increasing biodiversity</p></li>
<li><p>an “enhanced remnant vegetation” pilot that will pay farmers to protect remnant native vegetation with high conservation value</p></li>
<li><p>a proposed “Australian Farm Biodiversity Certification Scheme” to identify best-practice ways to sustain and build biodiversity.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>So how do these markets work? Farmers and other land managers undertake environmental projects such as protecting endangered native species, increasing tree cover or reducing competition from invasive pest species. These projects have been assessed and accredited – usually by a government entity or independent third party – to ensure their integrity. </p>
<p>Farmers earn “credits” in exchange for the activity they undertake, which are then sold to “funders” such as corporations that want to improve their environmental credentials, philanthropic organisations and others.</p>
<p>The government has previously committed A$34 million to develop and trial biodiversity stewardship approaches. This included A$4 million to the National Farmers Federation (NFF) to <a href="https://nff.org.au/programs/australian-agricultural-sustainability-framework/">start developing</a> a certification scheme. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-lone-tree-makes-it-easier-for-birds-and-bees-to-navigate-farmland-like-a-stepping-stone-between-habitats-162083">A lone tree makes it easier for birds and bees to navigate farmland, like a stepping stone between habitats</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="cows graze among trees" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Biodiversity stewardship schemes reward farmers who change their practices, such as retaining existing native vegetation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Workability’ problems</h2>
<p>In 2020, the NFF engaged the Australian Farm Institute (AFI) to evaluate the literature on existing certification schemes and to gauge landholders’ views. The <a href="https://nff.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Recognising-on-farm-biodiversity-management_AFI_Aug2020.pdf">report</a> identified myriad problems.</p>
<p>The AFI noted several issues surrounding data collection and reporting. Certification schemes are data-hungry: they require baseline data (information collected before a project starts), measurable outcomes and a way to monitor progress and verify results. But diminished public spending means such data are often <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/resources/interim-report/chapter-6-data-information-and-systems">not readily available</a>. </p>
<p>Also, biodiversity conservation can take decades. This can conflict with the interests of farmers, and of project funders that often operate within shorter planning horizons. This may limit the type, credibility and longevity of projects accredited for funding.</p>
<p>And many existing schemes are yet to demonstrate, on a cost-benefit analysis, any appreciable economic advantage to farmers. Under the Queensland Land Restoration Fund scheme, for example, the AFI said “farmers generally want more money than is offered for the carbon credits produced”. If that remains the case, widespread uptake seems unlikely. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="gloved hand takes soil sample with bottles in background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Certification schemes require solid environmental data and ongoing monitoring, which is often lacking in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Barriers to participation</h2>
<p>The time, energy and costs of applying to participate in a biodiversity stewardship scheme can limit participation. For instance, the AFI’s review of stakeholder views noted it took one Queensland farmer 18 months to navigate the application process under the state’s Land Restoration Fund. And the fund involves hefty startup costs, including A$15,000-20,000 for a baseline biodiversity report and A$10,000 for initial certification. </p>
<p>Some schemes have attempted to get around this. For example, the Land Restoration Fund now <a href="https://www.qrida.qld.gov.au/program/carbon-farming-advice-rebate-program">offers to pay</a> the costs of third-party agents employed to prepare applications. But overall administrative costs remain substantial and are likely to remain a deterrent to smaller operators.</p>
<p>Rules governing certification schemes can also penalise early adopters of sustainable farming methods. The schemes often require “additionality”, which means farmers cannot be rewarded for undertaking activity that would have occurred had the scheme not existed. So those already using best-practice methods – such as minimum tillage, organic farming or retaining native vegetation – often cannot take part. This is a particularly sore point for many farmers.</p>
<p>And almost inevitably in environmental stewardship schemes, ongoing funding to farmers is premised on progress against pre-determined benchmarks, such as storing a specified amount of carbon in landscapes by planting trees. Unfortunately, life in the bush is far from pre-determined. Disruptive events – such as drought, fire, falling commodity prices or new trade barriers - are run of the mill. </p>
<p>It’s a big stretch for corporate funders and contract negotiators to accommodate these unknown variables in their benchmarks. This means farmers must insure themselves against natural events (to the extent available) adding again to the costs of participation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/us-scheme-used-by-australian-farmers-reveals-the-dangers-of-trading-soil-carbon-to-tackle-climate-change-161358">US scheme used by Australian farmers reveals the dangers of trading soil carbon to tackle climate change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="gate in rural landscape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Time, energy and cost burdens can act as a barrier for some farmers to participate in stewardship schemes.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Nature belongs to all of us</h2>
<p>Land managers are the primary stewards of Australia’s unique environment. Yet they receive the <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/trade/analysis-of-government-support-agricultural-producers">least government funding</a> of any OECD country aside from New Zealand.</p>
<p>The environment needs immediate and <a href="http://www.dieterhelm.co.uk/natural-capital/">sustained support</a>. Whatever the lure and potential of environmental markets and certification schemes, the evidence strongly suggests private funding should not be relied on to preserve, restore and sustain our natural landscapes.</p>
<p>The environment is a public good, and requires adequate and substantial public funding. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-threatened-species-plan-has-failed-on-several-counts-without-change-more-extinctions-are-assured-163434">Australia’s threatened species plan has failed on several counts. Without change, more extinctions are assured</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philippa England is a member of Agforce Queensland for research purposes. The views expressed in this article are entirely her own and do not reflect an Agforce policy position.</span></em></p>The federal budget included $32 million to promote schemes in which farmers who adopt sustainable practices earn money on private markets. Evidence suggests the approach is plagued with problems.Philippa England, Senior Lecturer, Griffith Law School, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626312021-06-30T13:18:21Z2021-06-30T13:18:21ZFour ways to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises simultaneously<p>A <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/4920414#.YNmcvR3TUlU">landmark report</a> by the world’s most senior <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">climate</a> and <a href="https://www.ipbes.net/">biodiversity</a> scientists argues that the world will have to tackle the climate crisis and the species extinction crisis simultaneously, or not at all.</p>
<p>That’s because Earth’s land and ocean already absorbs about <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320/320155/how-to-save-our-planet/9780241472521.html">half of the greenhouse gases</a> that people emit. Wild animals, plants, fungi and microbes help maintain this carbon sink by keeping soils, forests and other ecosystems healthy.</p>
<p>Failing to tackle climate change meanwhile will accelerate <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/4920414#.YNmcvR3TUlU">biodiversity loss</a>, as higher temperatures and changing rainfall patterns make survival for many species more difficult. Both problems are intertwined, and so solutions to one which exacerbate the other are doomed to fail.</p>
<p>Luckily, there are options for addressing climate change and biodiversity loss together, called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15513">nature-based solutions</a>. If implemented properly, these measures can enhance the richness and diversity of life on Earth, help habitats store more carbon and even reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, making ecosystems more resilient while slowing the rate at which the planet warms.</p>
<h2>1. Protect and restore ecosystems</h2>
<p>Everyone is familiar with the need to preserve tropical rainforests, but there are other pristine habitats, on land and in the ocean, which are in dire need of protection. </p>
<p>Mangrove swamps occupy less than 1% of Earth’s surface, but store the equivalent of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aabe1c">22 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide</a>. That’s around two-thirds of total emissions from burning fossil fuels each year. These <a href="https://www.unep-wcmc.org/news/5-facts-about-mangroves-and-why-we-must-protect-them">coastal habitats</a> act as a home, nursery, and feeding ground for numerous species. More than 40 bird, ten reptile and six mammal species are only found in mangroves.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Under the canopy in a tropical mangrove forest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mangroves are particularly good at storing carbon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mangrove-forest-reflection-lake-submerged-pichavaram-1172081407">Velavan K/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Peatlands – those soggy ecosystems which include <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/peatlands-store-twice-much-carbon-all-worlds-forests">bogs, marshes and fens</a> – store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests. The top 15cm stores <a href="https://peatlands.org/peatlands/what-are-peatlands/">more carbon below ground</a> than tropical rainforests do above ground. In the UK, peatlands store the equivalent of <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/Nature_Based_Solutions_NDC_ReportV2.pdf">ten billion tonnes of carbon dioxide</a> and host <a href="http://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/files/Review%203%20Peatland%20Biodiversity.pdf">precious plant and animals</a> such as red grouse, mountain hares and marsh earwort. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, more than 80% of the UK’s peatlands are <a href="https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/about-peatlands/peatland-damage">degraded</a> in some way. A single hectare of damaged peatland can emit more than 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year – equivalent to the yearly emissions of <a href="https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/research/indicators-and-trends/indicators/nb18-annual-greenhouse-gas-ghg-emissions-from-degraded-peatlands/">seven family cars</a>. </p>
<p>Protecting these ecosystems can prevent carbon being released into the atmosphere. Restoring them where they’ve been damaged can suck carbon dioxide from the air and guarantee shelter for rare wildlife. Diverse natural systems also <a href="https://www.ipbes.net/sites/default/files/2021-06/20210609_workshop_report_embargo_3pm_CEST_10_june_0.pdf">bounce back better</a> from climate extremes than do species-poor, highly degraded systems, and will keep helping biodiversity and people even as Earth continues to warm.</p>
<h2>2. Manage farmland and fisheries sustainably</h2>
<p>Not all of the world’s land and ocean can be left to nature, but the land and ocean people use to produce food and other resources can be managed better.</p>
<p>People currently use about <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320/320155/how-to-save-our-planet/9780241472521.html">25% of the planet’s land surface</a> for growing food, extracting resources and living. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00225-9">The global food system</a> contributes one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>Methods of farming – such as agroecology, which involves incorporating trees and habitats within farm fields – and sustainable fishing practices can protect and regenerate topsoil and seabed habitats, boosting biodiversity and improving how resilient these ecosystems are to climate change.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Rows of vegetable beds with lines of young trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reforestation in tandem with food growing: lettuce, cauliflowers and tomatoes grow among saplings in Brazil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/petropolis-rjbrazil-july-27-2018-productive-1144851836">Luisaazara/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Create new forests – with care</h2>
<p>People have already <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320/320155/how-to-save-our-planet/9780241472521.html">cut down three trillion trees</a> – half of all the trees which once grew on Earth.</p>
<p>Creating new woodlands and forests can draw down atmospheric carbon and provide diverse habitats for a range of species, but great care must be taken to plant the right mix of trees in the right place. Vast plantations of non-native trees, particularly when they’re a single species, offer less useful habitat for wildlife, but a mix of native trees can benefit <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/4920414#.YNmcvR3TUlU">biodiversity and store more carbon</a> in the long run. </p>
<p><a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2018.1240">A study</a> in south-east China showed that forests containing several tree species stored twice as much carbon as the average single-species plantation.</p>
<p>We can do the same thing in the ocean by restoring <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.629962/full">seagrass meadows</a>.</p>
<h2>4. Shift to more plant-based diets</h2>
<p>Globally, animal agriculture is a major contributor to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aal2011">biodiversity loss</a>. <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/food_practice/sustainable_production/soy/">Millions of hectares</a> of Amazon rainforest, African Savanna and Central Asian grassland have been ploughed up to create pasture and plant feed crops for the cows, pigs and chickens that we eat. Nearly 60% of all planet-warming <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987">emissions from food production</a> originate in livestock rearing.</p>
<p>Reducing demand for meat and dairy, through diet changes and cutting waste, would not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions – which itself benefits biodiversity by limiting climate change – it would also lower pressure for farmland and so reduce deforestation and habitat destruction, freeing more land for the wider use of nature-based solutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A vegan burger with a side of sweet potato fries." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vegan diet is better for wildlife and the climate than a high-meat one.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/SIO_bOZoStA">Rolande PG/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meat, especially <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31788-4/fulltext">highly processed meat</a>, has been linked to high blood pressure, heart disease and bowel and stomach cancer. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31788-4/fulltext">Plant-based diets are healthier</a>, reduce healthcare costs and reduce carbon emissions.</p>
<h2>A note of caution</h2>
<p>It’s important to remember that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15513">nature-based solutions</a> aren’t a substitute for the rapid phase out of fossil fuels. They should involve a wide range of ecosystems on land and in the sea, not just forests. Wherever they’re implemented, nature-based solutions must proceed with the full engagement and consent of Indigenous peoples and local communities, respecting their cultural and ecological rights. And nature-based solutions should be explicitly designed to provide measurable benefits for biodiversity – not just carbon sequestration.</p>
<p>With all this in mind, the world can design robust and resilient solutions for the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, sustaining nature and people together, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15513">now and into the future</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162631/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pete Smith currently receives research funding from UKRI, EU, Wellcome Trust and Scottish Government. He is on the science advisory team for Carbon Direct (<a href="https://carbon-direct.com/">https://carbon-direct.com/</a>).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Maslin is a Founding Director of Rezatec Ltd, Co-Director of The London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership, a member of Cheltenham Science Festival Advisory Committee and a member of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group. He is an unpaid member of the Sopra-Steria CSR Board and Sheep Included Ltd Advisory Board. He has received grant funding in the past from the NERC, EPSRC, ESRC, DFG, Royal Society, DIFD, BEIS, DECC, FCO, Innovate UK, Carbon Trust, UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, Research England, Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, The Children's Investment Fund Foundation Sprint2020, and British Council. He has received research funding in the past from The Lancet, Laithwaites, Seventh Generation, Channel 4, JLT Re, WWF, Hermes, CAFOD, HP, and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Camille Parmesan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Solve the climate and extinction crises together, or solve neither.Pete Smith, Professor of Soils and Global Change, University of AberdeenCamille Parmesan, Professor of Climate Change Impacts, CNRS, University of Texas, University of PlymouthMark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1602432021-06-30T12:12:33Z2021-06-30T12:12:33ZTo make agriculture more climate-friendly, carbon farming needs clear rules<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408481/original/file-20210626-17-3d0f70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C2828%2C1881&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Soybeans sprout on an Illinois farm through corn stubble left on an unplowed field from the previous season – an example of no-till farming.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/dgETmg">Paige Buck, USDA/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the effects of <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/">climate change</a> intensify and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.621">paths for limiting global warming narrow</a>, politicians, media and environmental advocates have rallied behind “carbon farming” as a mutually beneficial strategy for society, the environment and farmers.</p>
<p>Agriculture covers <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food">more than half of Earth’s terrestrial surface</a> and contributes <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/chapter-5/">roughly one-third</a> of global greenhouse gas emissions. Paying farmers to restore <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1706103114">carbon-depleted</a> soils offers a tantalizing opportunity for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0491-z">a natural climate solution</a> that could help nations to meet their commitments under the international <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris climate agreement</a> to stabilize global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. </p>
<p>An international initiative called “<a href="https://www.4p1000.org">4 per 1000</a>,” launched at the <a href="https://www.cop21paris.org/about/cop21">2015 Paris climate conference</a>, showed that increasing soil carbon worldwide by just 0.4% yearly could <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2017.12.002">offset that year’s new growth in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel emissions</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408943/original/file-20210629-24-1lvhasn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Pig sunbathing in pasture." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408943/original/file-20210629-24-1lvhasn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408943/original/file-20210629-24-1lvhasn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408943/original/file-20210629-24-1lvhasn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408943/original/file-20210629-24-1lvhasn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408943/original/file-20210629-24-1lvhasn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408943/original/file-20210629-24-1lvhasn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408943/original/file-20210629-24-1lvhasn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A free-range pig at the Stone Brns Center for Food and Agriculture in New York. Raising livestock and crops together can boost soil carbon through the animals’ grazing patterns and natural manure distribution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Francesca Cotrufo</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research shows that farmers and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7995">ranchers</a> can also make their operations <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe492">more resilient</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103085">increasingly variable weather</a> by adopting practices that promote soil carbon sequestration. This prospect led us to <a href="https://www.research.colostate.edu/cip/scsc/">establish a center</a> at Colorado State University that develops and implements <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=i4i0ZvoAAAAJ&hl=en">soil-based</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HRySep8AAAAJ&hl=en">solutions</a> to <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Jg8EQ28AAAAJ&hl=en">climate</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Prw0xGgAAAAJ&hl=en">change</a>. </p>
<p>While many policy options exist to <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/16af156c-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/16af156c-en">reduce emissions from agricuture</a>, carbon farming has sparked <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/24/senate-farmers-carbon-agriculture-496029">bipartisan U.S. legislation</a> and attracted <a href="https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-carbon-smart-farming-catalyzing-big-bucks-needed-transform-way-america-eats">investors’ attention</a>. Critics <a href="https://www.wri.org/insights/insider-further-explanation-potential-contribution-soil-carbon-sequestration-working">question</a> its true potential, however. Some environment and justice advocacy groups argue that paying farmers <a href="https://modernfarmer.com/2021/04/environmental-groups-call-bidens-carbon-bank-plan-a-scam/">won’t do much to increase soil carbon</a>, and could allow polluting industries such as manufacturing to avoid necessary emission reductions by buying soil carbon credits from farmers instead.</p>
<p>Given the momentum behind carbon farming as a climate change mitigation strategy, we believe now is the time to establish clear standards that ensure that only real net changes in carbon receive financial rewards.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AY9YVwJZDvw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Increasing carbon storage in soil can help stabilize the climate and support food production.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Carbon farming basics</h2>
<p>As plants grow, they pull carbon from the atmosphere, and soil soaks it up and stores it. The amount of carbon stored <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2013.10.002">varies significantly</a> across soil type and climate. </p>
<p>Traditional farming methods that sequester carbon <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-8809(92)90095-S">have existed for millennia</a>. For example, minimizing soil disturbance through <a href="https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2013.09.0422">no-till farming</a> reduces carbon loss to the atmosphere. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.564900">Diversifying crops</a> and planting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-011-0056-7">legumes</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biy014">perennials</a> and <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eap.2278">cover crops</a> returns more carbon to the soil, and sustains soil microbes that <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-restore-our-soils-feed-the-microbes-79616">play key roles in carbon storage</a>. </p>
<p>Another climate-friendly strategy is raising livestock and crops together. Rotating cows among pastures allows grasses to recover from grazing, and the animals’ manure and the impacts of their grazing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112409">regenerate carbon in soils</a>. </p>
<p>Some farmers use these practices, which often are called “<a href="https://theconversation.com/regenerative-agriculture-can-make-farmers-stewards-of-the-land-again-110570">regenerative agriculture</a>,” particularly in <a href="https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/farming-while-black/">Black</a> and <a href="https://www.nativefoodsystems.org/">Indigenous communities</a> that have been <a href="https://flexpub.com/preview/dispossession">excluded from access to capital and government subsidies</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408941/original/file-20210629-16-1okuhx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cross section of prairie soil with deep roots." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408941/original/file-20210629-16-1okuhx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408941/original/file-20210629-16-1okuhx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408941/original/file-20210629-16-1okuhx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408941/original/file-20210629-16-1okuhx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408941/original/file-20210629-16-1okuhx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408941/original/file-20210629-16-1okuhx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408941/original/file-20210629-16-1okuhx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The deep roots of Kernza, a perennial grain, reduce erosion, help the plant tolerate drought and add soil carbon deeper in the ground than shorter-rooted annual grains. Kernza, the first commercially viable perennial grain in the U.S., was developed by The Land Institute, based in Salina, Kansas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Francesca Cotrufo</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Soil: A low-cost solution</h2>
<p>Increasing soil carbon through techniques like no-till is relatively inexpensive. Studies estimate that carbon farming costs <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0491-z">US$10-$100 per ton of CO2 removed</a>, compared with $100-$1,000 per ton for technologies that <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/direct-air-capture">mechanically remove carbon from the air</a>.</p>
<p>Carbon farming is also a potential revenue stream for farmers and ranchers, who can <a href="https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2021/04/18/what-farmers-should-know-selling-carbon-credits/7280044002/">sell the credits they earn in carbon markets</a>. Large-scale greenhouse gas emitters, such as manufacturers, purchase these credits to offset their own emissions.</p>
<p>Companies such as <a href="https://www.indigoag.com/pages/news/first-companies-commit-to-purchasing-verified-agricultural-carbon-credits">IndigoAg</a> and <a href="https://locusag.com/shopify-will-be-first-high-volume-corporate-buyer-of-carbon-credits-from-a-us-carbonnow-farmer/">Nori</a> are already facilitating payments to farmers for carbon credits. And on June 24, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/1251/cosponsors?r=46&s=1&searchResultViewType=expanded">Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021</a> by a vote of 92-8. The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help farmers, ranchers and private forest landowners participate in carbon markets.</p>
<p>So far, however, there are no universal standards for measuring, reporting or verifying agricultural carbon credits. Here are the questions we see as top priorities.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1352640593151758336"}"></div></p>
<h2>Assessing carbon storage</h2>
<p>One major challenge is that soils absorb varying amounts of carbon depending on depth, texture and mineral content. While <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2019.00008">certain practices increase carbon storage</a>, quantifying how much is stored and for how long is critical for assigning dollar values to them. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15613">markets and practices</a> that work in different locations also vary widely.</p>
<p>Some scientific models offer <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.564900">estimates of carbon sequestration for various climates and soil types</a> based on averages over large areas. We believe that regulators need <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3147-2021">rigorous models</a> verified by measurements to avoid crediting carbon that never ends up in soil or doesn’t remain there for long. </p>
<p>But verification isn’t easy. Scientists are still searching for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14815">quick, accurate, cost-effective ways</a> to sample and analyze soils. </p>
<p>Possible approaches include <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.634472">infrared spectroscopy</a> – which identifies materials in soil by analyzing how they absorb or reflect infrared light – or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00744-x">machine learning</a>, which can find patterns in large data sets quickly. Studies conducted in the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10533-021-00755-1">U.S. Great Plains</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.634472">the United Kingdom and the European Union</a> suggest these are promising, low-cost methods. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408483/original/file-20210626-14-im52kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic showing roadblocks to soil carbon market integration." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408483/original/file-20210626-14-im52kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408483/original/file-20210626-14-im52kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408483/original/file-20210626-14-im52kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408483/original/file-20210626-14-im52kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408483/original/file-20210626-14-im52kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408483/original/file-20210626-14-im52kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408483/original/file-20210626-14-im52kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Integrating carbon into markets poses scientific, economic and technical challenges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.research.colostate.edu/cip/scsc/">CSU Soil Carbon Solutions Center</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another priority is developing national minimum standards to predict and properly value soil carbon capture. Carbon may reside in soil anywhere from days to millennia, so time scale is an important consideration for markets. In our view, credits should reflect the duration carbon resides in soil, with full offsets generated only for <a href="https://theconversation.com/soil-carbon-is-a-valuable-resource-but-all-soil-carbon-is-not-created-equal-129175">longer-lasting storage</a>.</p>
<p>We also believe that these programs must consider an operation’s net greenhouse gas emissions. For example, practices may store more carbon in soil but also increase emissions of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15342">nitrous oxide, another greenhouse gas</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408530/original/file-20210627-24-1gkfh46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Well-designed soil carbon policies will benefit farmers and society." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408530/original/file-20210627-24-1gkfh46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408530/original/file-20210627-24-1gkfh46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408530/original/file-20210627-24-1gkfh46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408530/original/file-20210627-24-1gkfh46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408530/original/file-20210627-24-1gkfh46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=656&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408530/original/file-20210627-24-1gkfh46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=656&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408530/original/file-20210627-24-1gkfh46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=656&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Backed by effective technologies and policies, carbon farming can improve ecosystems and help to slow climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.research.colostate.edu/cip/scsc/">CSU Soil Carbon Solutions Center</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Benefits and challenges</h2>
<p>Rebuilding carbon-rich soil supports farmers’ bottom lines by improving soil health and <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-5-15-2019">increasing crop yields</a>. But federal incentives could preferentially provide resources to <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2017/december/us-cropland-is-consolidating-into-larger-farms/">big operations</a> that have greater ability to sequester carbon on their vast acreage. </p>
<p>That’s been the case with U.S. farm subsidies: Over the past 25 years, <a href="https://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?fips=00000&progcode=totalfarm&page=conc&regionname=theUnitedStates">10% of the largest farms received 78% of subsidies</a>. </p>
<p>Since these practices benefit farmers, some may use them even without policy incentives. As we see it, <a href="https://www.offsetguide.org/high-quality-offsets/additionality">to avoid paying for soil carbon increases that would have occurred anyway</a>, carbon banks should avoid crediting farms for adopting practices known to be profitable in their regions. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the goals of climate policy include curbing greenhouse gas emissions and actively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Before farmers receive soil carbon credits they can sell to offset other sources of emissions, we believe their value must be accurately assessed to ensure that society gets what it pays for.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that IndigoAg does not purchase carbon credits.</em></p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura van der Pol receives funding from the United Stated Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture as well as the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dale Manning receives funding from USDA.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francesca Cotrufo receives funding from
NSF, USDA, DOE, Shell, MacDonald, GeneralMills
She is a founding member of Cquester Analytics LLC</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan Machmuller receives funding from WSARE, CDA, USDA. She is a founding member of Cquester Analytics LLC.</span></em></p>Policymakers want to pay farmers for storing carbon in soil, but there are no uniform rules yet for measuring, reporting or verifying the results. Four scholars offer some ground rules.Laura van der Pol, Ph.D Student in Ecology, Colorado State UniversityDale Manning, Associate Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State UniversityFrancesca Cotrufo, Professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State UniversityMegan Machmuller, Research Scientist, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1504422020-12-15T19:11:19Z2020-12-15T19:11:19ZThe future of agriculture: why unis must prepare students to secure both our food and our planet<p>Agriculture will soon be worth <a href="https://nff.org.au/media-release/nff-releases-report-card-on-progress-towards-100-billion-goal/">A$100 billion</a> a year to Australia. The industry employs more than <a href="https://nff.org.au/media-release/nff-releases-report-card-on-progress-towards-100-billion-goal/">250,000 people</a>, stewards <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/12/3416/htm">80% of our land area</a> and drives world-class agribusiness and food sectors. In an uncertain employment market, every new agriculture graduate has a <a href="https://acda.edu.au/resources/GraduateSupplyforAgriculture-AglimmerOfhope.pdf">choice of six job opportunities</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-panic-australia-has-truly-excellent-food-security-136405">Don't panic: Australia has truly excellent food security</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Agriculture today is fast-paced, global, diverse, reliant on high-end scientific discovery and increasingly responsive to consumers’ concerns about provenance, ethics and health. Despite all this, agriculture still fails to grip the imagination of many of our brightest students. </p>
<p>In Australia about <a href="https://acda.edu.au/resources/GraduateSupplyforAgriculture-AglimmerOfhope.pdf">300 to 400 students</a> graduate with some form of agriculture degree each year. With 17 universities offering significant agriculture studies, this would amount to only 23 students per university each year. And the numbers are declining. </p>
<p>As a growth sector with many jobs on offer, why does it lack appeal for students? Do we have the right model to attract the school leavers agriculture needs? </p>
<p>Part of the problem is social: agriculture doesn’t attract much attention apart from when Australia is on fire, covered in dust, flooded by water or when crops are dying of thirst. Parents and students associate agriculture with rural parched landscapes and struggling farmers, not high-technology science and genetics to produce the best meat or crops. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/technology-is-changing-the-face-of-northern-australian-cattle-farming-31552">Technology is changing the face of northern Australian cattle farming</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What do students need to know?</h2>
<p>The world of agriculture may start in a rural town far from Sydney Harbour, but it ends up in the commodity markets of London, Paris and New York and underpins some of the world’s most successful companies. And it does this with the help of some of our most innovative scientists.</p>
<p>To attract the best school leavers, it is vital that what we offer students is as exciting, diverse and challenging as the sector is becoming. To borrow a federal government term, the job-ready (agriculture) graduate of tomorrow needs to experience and understand best-practice regional farming systems. This is agriculture that’s in sync with a diverse landscape and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/stop-fighting-and-start-adapting-to-climate-change-basin-authority-says-20201214-p56nbc.html">resilient to climate change</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-since-2000-has-cut-farm-profits-22-128860">Climate change since 2000 has cut farm profits 22%</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Students’ knowledge needs to be across the many ways to practise agriculture. These range from organic and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_agriculture">regenerative agricultural</a> practices, focused on replicating natural processes, through to technology-driven <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision_agriculture">precision farming</a> and the emerging trend of using locally sourced inputs in <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/circular-agriculture-vision-sustainability">circular farming systems</a>.</p>
<p>The days of simply shearing and shipping are over. The importance of provenance now goes right through the supply chain – we need to be able to trace food from paddock to plate. </p>
<p>Graduates will also need strong statistical and experimental design skills to manage the science and economics of agriculture. Since the emergence of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/precision-agriculture">precision agriculture</a> the quantitative skills graduates need have been totally transformed. They’ll have to manage big data sets to make informed decisions and optimise farm production. </p>
<p>The curriculum has had to expand beyond its historical focus on experimental design to include teaching <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168169917301230">spatial and temporal data</a> combined with ecological statistics. Farmers want data in real time and mapped across their farm to optimise management and make spatially mapped yield predictions.</p>
<h2>A rising awareness of ethics</h2>
<p>The impact of producing food is under increasing scrutiny, too, exemplified by recent films <a href="https://kissthegroundmovie.com/">Kiss the Ground</a> and David Attenborough’s <a href="https://attenboroughfilm.com/">A Life on Our Planet</a>. </p>
<p>Consumers are demanding more of food producers. They are represented by groups concerned with better health and nutrition, more diverse diets, or advocates for differing ethical opinions. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K3-V1j-zMZw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Kiss the Ground trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The current student cohort is also the most socially aware we have had in decades. The new agriculture curriculum must give them the tools to address these diverse agendas.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-farmers-want-more-climate-action-and-theyre-starting-in-their-own-huge-backyards-144792">Australia's farmers want more climate action – and they’re starting in their own (huge) backyards</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The rise of <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/AF/Areas/Digital-agriculture">digital agriculture</a> will further increase use of technology and data for decision-making along the entire supply chain from farm to consumer. Graduates must be aware of how digital technologies can be used to decommoditise – presenting products as unique that are strongly linked to priorities such as sustainability – and add value to farm outputs. Complex value-added products will allow producers to take advantage of rapidly expanding world markets, particularly on our doorstep in Asia.</p>
<p>Farmers continue to strive to protect the land. This is being recognised with <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/landline/farmers-reward:-paying-farmers-for-supporting/12492682">calls for payments</a> for ecosystem services that support biodiversity. </p>
<p>Future graduates will be armed with greater understanding of what makes a resilient landscape. They will be able to draw on scientific evidence to support on-farm management decisions and ensure their ecosystem service payments. They will be able to tailor land-management strategies to each farm.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-regenerative-farming-can-help-grow-food-with-less-impact-123090">Climate explained: regenerative farming can help grow food with less impact</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Wanted: a visionary curriculum</h2>
<p>A renewed agriculture curriculum will open up tremendous opportunities for students. Data science, bioinformatics and genetics now form the basis of much of the activity in agriculture. This is dramatically extending the skill set of graduates. </p>
<p>While animal husbandry and crop cultivation remain central to our sector, the ag students of the future must strive to be the best geneticists, pathologists and ecologists. Sometimes all rolled into one.</p>
<p>A visionary new curriculum must also include a focus on entrepreneurship and market prospecting – leading to innovative start-ups – and ensure graduates have a global outlook. </p>
<p>They should be able to build agribusinesses that are responsive to the increasing risks, such as climate change, and agile enough to respond to volatility or to restructure to take advantage of new markets. Entrepreneurial skills will be needed too, to meet consumers’ expectations. </p>
<p>Universities must continue to listen and work with industry and consumers and be responsive to global trends and concerns. Agriculture will remain a growth industry. Careful management and investment in preparing students for the future of agriculture will ensure they can be tomorrow’s leaders of positive change and opportunity for the planet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150442/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damien Field is affiliated with International Union of Soil Science, Soil Science Australia and Board member for Sydney Institute of Marine Science </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brent Kaiser works for the University of Sydney. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iain Young works for Sydney University. If the article encourages more students to study Agriculture, then University of Sydney would benefit.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pauline Ross and Stephen Cattle do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite the many jobs on offer, agriculture courses are struggling to attract students. A visionary curriculum is needed that is as exciting, diverse and challenging as the sector itself is becoming.Damien Field, Associate Professor, Institute of Agriculture, University of SydneyBrent Kaiser, Professor of Legume Biology, University of SydneyIain Young, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Science, University of SydneyPauline Ross, Associate Dean (Education), Professor of Biology and Educational Strategy, University of SydneyStephen Cattle, Associate Professor in Soil Science, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1308772020-07-07T02:47:33Z2020-07-07T02:47:33ZIntensive farming is eating up the Australian continent – but there’s another way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344552/original/file-20200629-155353-18mmn1c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3264%2C1886&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sue McIntyre</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/environment/sustainability/nsw-farmers-accelerate-land-clearing-rates-doubling-previous-decade-20200701-p5581j.html">we learned</a> woody vegetation in New South Wales is being cleared at more than double the rate of the previous decade – and agriculture was responsible for more than half the destruction.</p>
<p>Farming <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/publications/insights/snapshot-of-australian-agriculture-2020#agricultural-production-is-growing">now covers</a> 58% of Australia, or 385 million hectares, and accounts for 59% of water extracted.</p>
<p>It’s painfully clear <a href="https://www.wenfo.org/aer/">nature is buckling</a> under the weight of farming’s demands. In the past decade, the federal government has <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publiclookupcommunities.pl">listed</a> ten ecological communities as endangered, or critically endangered, as a result of farming development and practices.</p>
<p>So how can we accommodate the needs of both farming and nature? Research shows us how – but it means accepting land as a finite resource, and operating within its limits. In doing so, farmers will also reap benefits.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325446/original/file-20200404-74220-5bgtta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325446/original/file-20200404-74220-5bgtta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325446/original/file-20200404-74220-5bgtta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325446/original/file-20200404-74220-5bgtta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325446/original/file-20200404-74220-5bgtta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325446/original/file-20200404-74220-5bgtta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325446/original/file-20200404-74220-5bgtta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grassy eucalypt woodlands used for cattle farming in subtropical Queensland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tara Martin. Author provided.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Healthy grazing landscapes</h2>
<p>In the 1990s, I worked as a research ecologist in the cattle country of sub-tropical Queensland. The prevailing culture valued agricultural development over conservation. Yet many of these producers lived on viable farms that supported a wealth of native plants and animals.</p>
<p>They made a living from the native grassy eucalypt woodlands, an ecosystem that extends from Cape York to Tasmania. In these healthy landscapes, vigorous pastures of tall perennial grasses protected the soil, enriched it with carbon and fed the cattle.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ipccs-land-report-shows-the-problem-with-farming-based-around-oil-not-soil-121643">IPCC's land report shows the problem with farming based around oil, not soil</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>NSW and Victoria have similar eucalypt grassy vegetation, but <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/16380796?q=pasture+improvement+in+australia&c=book&sort=holdings+desc&_=1586924950730&versionId=196760124">farming here has taken a very different path</a>. </p>
<p>Fertilised legumes and grasses grown for livestock fodder have replaced hundreds of native grassland plants. Over time, native trees and shrubs <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/386f395f-b2c6-4e10-8fc3-e937ad277bfe/files/white-and-yellow-box.pdf">stopped regenerating</a> and remaining trees became unhealthy, <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/386f395f-b2c6-4e10-8fc3-e937ad277bfe/files/white-and-yellow-box.pdf">destroying wildlife habitat</a>. The transformation was hastened by <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/16380796?q=pasture+improvement+in+australia&c=book&sort=holdings+desc&_=1586924950730&versionId=196760124">aerial applications of fertiliser and herbicide</a>. </p>
<p>By 2006, 4.5 million hectares of box-gum grassy woodland – or 90% – in temperate Australia had been <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/dcad3aa6-2230-44cb-9a2f-5e1dca33db6b/files/box-gum.pdf">destroyed</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325450/original/file-20200404-74220-lu4kpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325450/original/file-20200404-74220-lu4kpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325450/original/file-20200404-74220-lu4kpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325450/original/file-20200404-74220-lu4kpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325450/original/file-20200404-74220-lu4kpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325450/original/file-20200404-74220-lu4kpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325450/original/file-20200404-74220-lu4kpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aerial delivery of fertiliser, seed and herbicide transformed grassy woodlands in NSW.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">F. G. Swain. Author provided.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A template for sustainability</h2>
<p>Back in Queensland in the 1990s, my colleagues and I devised a <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/4749">template</a> for sustainable land use. Funded by the livestock industry and a now-defunct federal corporation, we worked with producers and government agencies to find the right balance between farm production and conserving natural resources. </p>
<p>Our research concluded that for farming to be sustainable, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG0I8nVXcbg">intensive land uses</a> must be limited. Such intensive uses include crops and non-native pastures. They are “high input”, typically requiring fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides, and some form of cultivation. They return greater yields but kill native plants, and are prone to soil and nutrient runoff into waterways.</p>
<p>But our template was not adopted as conventional farming practice. In the past 20 years, Australia’s cropping area has <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/aclump/land-use-change-overview/national-scale-examples">increased</a> by 18,200 square kilometres.</p>
<p>By 2019, 38,000 square kilometres of poplar box grassy woodland in Australia had been cleared – more than half the size of Tasmania. The ecosystem was listed as <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publiclookupcommunities.pl">endangered in 2019</a>. Until that point, it had been considered <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/communities/pubs/141pb-conservation-advice.pdf">invasive native scrub in NSW</a> – exempting it from clearing regulations – and was systematically cleared for agriculture in Queensland. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345299/original/file-20200702-111353-10i55s3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345299/original/file-20200702-111353-10i55s3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345299/original/file-20200702-111353-10i55s3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345299/original/file-20200702-111353-10i55s3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345299/original/file-20200702-111353-10i55s3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345299/original/file-20200702-111353-10i55s3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345299/original/file-20200702-111353-10i55s3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Farmers should conserve sufficient areas of landscape to support native plants and animals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sue McIntyre</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Regenerating the land</h2>
<p>Hearteningly, our research was recently <a href="https://www.vbs.net.au/long-term-research/">revived</a> in a multidisciplinary study of regenerative grazing on the grassy woodlands of NSW. The template was used to assess the ecological condition of participating farms.</p>
<p>The study examined differences in profitability between graziers who had adopted regenerative techniques such as low-input pasture management, and all other sheep, sheep-beef and mixed cropping-grazing farmers in their region. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-ways-farms-of-the-future-can-feed-the-planet-and-heal-it-too-128853">Three ways farms of the future can feed the planet and heal it too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It found regenerative grazing was often more profitable than other types of farming, especially in dry years. Regenerative farmers also experienced significantly higher than average well-being compared with other NSW farmers.</p>
<p>So what does our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167880912000291?via%3Dihub">template involve</a>? First, it identifies four types of land use relevant to farmed grassy woodland regions.</p>
<p>Second, it specifies the proportion of land that should be allocated to each use, in order to achieve landscape health (see pie chart below). The proportions can be applied to single farm, or entire districts or regions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325448/original/file-20200404-74220-ojf0wk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325448/original/file-20200404-74220-ojf0wk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325448/original/file-20200404-74220-ojf0wk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325448/original/file-20200404-74220-ojf0wk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325448/original/file-20200404-74220-ojf0wk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325448/original/file-20200404-74220-ojf0wk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325448/original/file-20200404-74220-ojf0wk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How to sustain production, natural resources and native flora and fauna on a landscape or farm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sue McIntyre</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Intensive land use involves activities that replace nearly all native species. If these activities occupy more than 30% of the landscape, there’s insufficient habitat to maintain many native species, especially plants. </p>
<p>At least 10% of land must be devoted to nature conservation. The remaining 60% of the land should involve low-intensity activity such as grazed native pasture and timber production. If managed well, these land uses can support human livelihoods and a diversity of native species.</p>
<p>Within that split of land use, total native woodland should be no less than 30%. This guarantees connected habitats for native plants and animals, enabling movement and breeding opportunities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345522/original/file-20200703-33913-149u3o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345522/original/file-20200703-33913-149u3o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345522/original/file-20200703-33913-149u3o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345522/original/file-20200703-33913-149u3o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345522/original/file-20200703-33913-149u3o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345522/original/file-20200703-33913-149u3o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345522/original/file-20200703-33913-149u3o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Retaining grassy woodland ensures habitat for native animals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Duncan McCaskill/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Respect the land’s limits</h2>
<p>Australians ask a lot of our land. It must make space for our houses, businesses, and roads. It should support all species to prevent extinctions. And it must produce our food and fibre.</p>
<p>Global population growth demands a rapid rise in <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/12/how-sustainably-feed-10-billion-people-2050-21-charts">food production</a>. But relying on intensive agriculture to achieve this is unsustainable. Aside from damaging the land, it increases greenhouse gas emissions though mechanisation, fertilisation, chemical use and tree clearing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-farmers-are-adapting-to-climate-change-76939">Australian farmers are adapting to climate change</a>
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<p>To meet the challenges of the future we must ensure farmed landscapes retain their <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.12689">ecological functions</a>. In particular, maintaining biodiversity is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.12689">key to climate adaptation</a>. And as many of Australia’s plants and animals march towards extinction, the need to reverse biodiversity loss has never been greater.</p>
<p>Farmers can be profitable while maintaining and improving the ecological health of their land. It’s time to look harder at farming models that respect the limits of nature, and recognise that less can be more.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130877/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue McIntyre is a member of Bush Heritage Australia and volunteers for Landcare Australia. </span></em></p>It’s painfully clear nature is buckling under the weight of farming’s demands. There’s another way – but it involves accepting nature’s limits.Sue McIntyre, Honorary Professor, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1248662020-01-28T13:10:29Z2020-01-28T13:10:29ZYoung California ranchers are finding new ways to raise livestock and improve the land<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311216/original/file-20200121-117917-akr5te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C0%2C3856%2C2805&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sonoma County, California hired this herd of sheep from Sweetgrass Grazing to reduce invasive plants and flammable fuels and make room for native plants on protected land. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.sonomaopenspace.org/news-and-features/2018/08/keeping-the-land-in-sheep-shape/">Sonoma Open Space</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As California contends with drought, wildfires and other impacts of climate change, a small yet passionate group of residents are attempting to lessen these effects and reduce the state’s carbon emissions. They are ranchers – but not the kind that most people picture when they hear that term.</p>
<p>These first-generation ranchers are young, often female and ethnically diverse. Rather than raising beef cattle destined for feedlots, many are managing small grazing animals like <a href="https://ucanr.edu/sites/placernevadasmallfarms/Livestock/SheepGoats/">sheep and goats</a>. And they are experimenting with grazing practices that can <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/01/05/792458505/california-cities-turn-to-hired-hooves-to-help-prevent-massive-wildfires">reduce fire risk on hard-to-reach landscapes</a>, restore biodiversity and make it possible to make a living from the land in one of the most expensive states in the country. </p>
<p>Our research focuses on <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VizEaQEAAAAJ&hl=en">food systems</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6ZHn7YMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">rangelands</a> and livestock production. In our recent work, we found new ranchers in California using innovative strategies that they believe can mitigate fire risk to communities and improve soil through grazing. </p>
<p>We see an opportunity for the public and government agricultural agencies to support these producers, who are reframing livestock production systems in ways that could benefit the environment. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Ariel Greenwood describes what it’s like to be a young female rancher.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>A hard industry to enter</h2>
<p>Ranching is a family operation in California, with the vast majority raising beef cattle. The primary ranchers on traditional operations are mostly male, mostly white and generally in their late 50s to early 60s. They typically work together with their children, which lets younger generations draw on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rama.2015.07.006">decades of knowledge</a> and experience, as well as <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3733/ca.v065n04p184">long-term connections to the land</a> and to rural communities.</p>
<p>Because land in California is expensive, there are few independent first-generation beef cattle ranchers. Several first-generation ranchers whom we interviewed relayed stories of friends leaving the state to find places with cheaper land and fewer regulations. One explained that expanding urban edges and more profitable land uses are rapidly transforming rural landscapes and making it difficult, if not impossible, to “make a go of it” as a new rancher.</p>
<h2>New ways to ranch</h2>
<p>Climate change is challenging farmers and ranchers across the U.S. in many ways. On western rangelands, climate variability has increased the <a href="https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/rangelands/article/view/23353">magnitude and number of extreme wildfires</a> that occur each year. Wet years cause vegetation to thrive, while subsequent severe droughts turn it into deadly fuel. </p>
<p>Our research team wanted to understand how first-generation ranchers were adapting to California’s changing climate. Our preliminary research indicated they were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ18023">less prepared for future droughts</a> than more established ranchers, and they were less likely to use drought adaptation strategies, such as raising fewer animals than their land can support in good years. This approach hedges against the risk of bringing animals to market during dry years, when prices are less favorable.</p>
<p>But we soon discovered a new generation of ranchers who are creating different and often entirely new types of production systems in response to California’s climate extremes and high costs. Because they are starting from scratch, many of them do not view their practices as adapting, we learned. Rather, they see these techniques as central elements of a new kind of ranching.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311211/original/file-20200121-117962-1ohozu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311211/original/file-20200121-117962-1ohozu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311211/original/file-20200121-117962-1ohozu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311211/original/file-20200121-117962-1ohozu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311211/original/file-20200121-117962-1ohozu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311211/original/file-20200121-117962-1ohozu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311211/original/file-20200121-117962-1ohozu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311211/original/file-20200121-117962-1ohozu9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A herd of dairy goats grazing in Southern California.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kate Munden-Dixon</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>For example, we interviewed one young first-generation cattle rancher who is experimenting with “<a href="https://www.beefmagazine.com/pasture-range/ranchers-sing-praises-mob-grazing-cattle">mob grazing</a>” – putting animals on small areas of land in dense groups for periods as short as a few hours, then moving them to new plots. Moving his herd as a close-knit unit across pastures mimics the natural movements of historical <a href="https://www.nps.gov/pore/learn/nature/tule_elk.htm#:%7E:targetText=The%20tule%20elk%20Cervus%20canadensis,Bakersfield%20in%20the%20mid%2D1870s">elk herds</a> that use to roam coastal California. </p>
<p>His goals are to increase soil carbon storage and native vegetation by using hoof trampling to break up and incorporate residual plant matter into the soil after grazing. Then the pasture receives a long rest, which allows the soil and grass to recover. </p>
<h2>An emerging model</h2>
<p>New ranchers are spread throughout the length of California, from grassy foothill regions of the Sierra Nevada along the state’s eastern edge to the Pacific coast ranges. Many established California ranching families have large land holdings in multiple locations, but new ranchers tend to have smaller and fewer parcels of land. </p>
<p>Diversification is a key economic and ecological strategy. The average new rancher raises two types of livestock, and one-third of them also produce crops. The majority of these new ranchers (53%) are managing sheep, while less than half (47%) are raising beef cattle. </p>
<p>Many of these new ranchers view improving the environment with grazing animals as a way to positively affect the world. <a href="https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/research/Pages/future-positive.aspx">Like millennials in general</a>, they want their work to be purpose-driven and are seeking work-life balance. </p>
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<p>Although many are struggling to survive economically, these emerging ranchers believe they are providing a public service to communities. Some of them suggested to us that California should reconceptualize ranchers as ecosystem stewards who use grazing animals to restore watersheds and habitats, creating more resilient communities. </p>
<p>These services are valuable <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-06143-190108">in California</a>, where active management of landscapes can foster and enhance the state’s incredible biodiversity. It also reduces grasses and other forages that are potential fuel for devastating fires. </p>
<h2>Beyond beef</h2>
<p>So far, however, new forms of ranching have received little public buy-in or assistance. While this type of ranching has been gaining popularity, many policymakers and agricultural agencies still tend to equate livestock production with California’s US$3.19 billion beef cattle industry. </p>
<p>We see a critical opportunity for the public and government agencies to actively support ranchers who are working to mitigate the climate crisis. Several new and expanding funding streams could provide public support to new producers, including California’s <a href="https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/healthysoils/#:%7E:targetText=The%20Healthy%20Soils%20Program%20stems,and%20the%20HSP%20Demonstration%20Projects">Healthy Soils Program</a> and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s <a href="https://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/beginning-farmer-and-rancher-development-program-bfrdp">Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program</a>. </p>
<p>Consider the staggering impact of wildfires, which generated <a href="https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2019/release041-19.cfm">$13 billion in insurance claims in California in 2018</a>. Expanding incentive programs for new and beginning ranchers who are interested in fire mitigation and climate adaptation could support <a href="https://www.fire.ca.gov/programs/resource-management/resource-protection-improvement/vegetation-management-program/">California’s land management goals</a>. </p>
<p>However, without an increase in outreach and support, the future of these new ranchers is uncertain. Help from university researchers and agricultural and natural resource extension advisers is crucial to increase the number of new ranchers who begin and stay in ranching. And partnerships among universities, government agencies and nonprofits can help the next generation pursue innovative solutions to offset carbon emissions and reduce wildfire risks. </p>
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<p><a href="http://www.aag.org">Kate Munden-Dixon is a member of the American Association of Geographers</a></p>
<footer>The association is a funding partner of The Conversation US.</footer>
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</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124866/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Munden-Dixon receives funding from USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE). She is a member of the American Association of Geographers. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leslie Roche receives funding from USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE).</span></em></p>A new generation of ranchers is exploring sustainable ways to raise cattle, sheep and goats in California. Some are grazing herds on fire-prone lands, reducing wildfire risks and improving soils.Kate Munden-Dixon, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sustainable Food Systems, Indiana UniversityLeslie Roche, Associate Cooperative Extension Specialist, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1149022019-10-16T11:25:28Z2019-10-16T11:25:28ZIowa’s farmers – and American eaters – need a national discussion on transforming US agriculture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297243/original/file-20191015-98674-1uzm4on.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Strips of native prairie grasses planted on Larry and Margaret Stone's Iowa farm protect soil, water and wildlife.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Iowa State University/Omar de Kok-Mercado</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Iowa’s <a href="http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/artifact/history-iowa-caucus">first-in-the-nation caucuses</a> bring the state a lot of political attention during presidential election cycles. But in my view, even though some candidates have outlined <a href="https://civileats.com/2019/05/29/where-the-2020-presidential-candidates-stand-on-food-and-farming/">positions on food and farming</a>, agriculture rarely gets the attention it deserves.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-6bpfYUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scientist</a> at <a href="https://www.iastate.edu/">Iowa’s land-grant university</a>, I believe our state is at the forefront of redefining what agriculture could be in the U.S., and addressing environmental and economic challenges associated with the extensive monocultures that dominate our current system. I think these conversations should be at the forefront nationally. After all, everyone needs to eat, so all Americans have a stake in the future of farming.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297244/original/file-20191015-98653-1frt2b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297244/original/file-20191015-98653-1frt2b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297244/original/file-20191015-98653-1frt2b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297244/original/file-20191015-98653-1frt2b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297244/original/file-20191015-98653-1frt2b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297244/original/file-20191015-98653-1frt2b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297244/original/file-20191015-98653-1frt2b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297244/original/file-20191015-98653-1frt2b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Judging produce on opening day of the 2019 Iowa State Fair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Iowa-State-Fair/056cf586a9784af1b8143c181389bbae/238/0">AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall</a></span>
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<h2>As Iowa farms, so farms the nation</h2>
<p>Iowa is a <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/Ag_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=IOWA">leading global producer</a> of corn, soy, pork, beef, eggs, ethanol, biodiesel, biochemicals and agricultural technology. Because it is home to just <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/IA">3.2 million people</a>, Iowa farmers export the vast majority of what they produce. Most multinational agricultural businesses have Iowa offices, and the state also has considerable influence on U.S. <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-2018-farm-bill-means-for-urban-suburban-and-rural-america-89605">farm bill</a> legislation. </p>
<p>Iowans are also acutely aware of the challenges of modern agriculture, which affect their lands and livelihoods. They include <a href="https://theconversation.com/make-our-soil-great-again-76242">soil degradation</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-your-diet-contributes-to-nutrient-pollution-and-dead-zones-in-lakes-and-bays-118902">water contamination</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-flood-risks-increase-across-the-us-its-time-to-recognize-the-limits-of-levees-118326">flooding</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-climate-change-report-underscores-the-need-to-manage-land-for-the-short-and-long-term-121716">loss of carbon</a> and habitat for native species.</p>
<p>Farmers understand these effects, and many are actively working to <a href="https://store.extension.iastate.edu/Product/15093">reduce them</a>, as <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/can-sustainable-farming-save-iowas-precious-soil-and-water">operational, financial and social conditions allow</a>. One example in which I am involved is the <a href="https://www.nrem.iastate.edu/research/STRIPS/">STRIPS project</a>, in which scientists, farmers, land owners and others are partnering to test the effects of seeding narrow strips with native prairie plants within and around corn and soybean fields. </p>
<p>Over the last 13 years, we have shown that prairie is a valuable tool for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1620229114">protecting water supplies and providing habitat for wildlife</a>, including pollinators. Planting just 10% of farm fields – often in the least productive zones – with stiff-stemmed native prairie grasses helps hold water and sediment in place, reducing erosion and nutrient loss from fields. The strips also contain flowering plants that support birds and insects, including pollinators and natural enemies of crop pests. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Farmers describe the benefits of integrating small strips of prairie into row crop fields.</span></figcaption>
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<p>This approach can turn <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/1/014009">low-yielding acres</a> into an opportunity to reduce use of inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides. Today there are nearly 600 acres of prairie strips on about 5,000 acres of cropland on 66 farms across in six Midwestern states. My colleagues and I expect these numbers to grow dramatically now that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/ia/newsroom/features/STELPRDB1143858/">supporting prairie strips as a conservation tool</a>. </p>
<p>Iowa State University scientists are working with industry to create <a href="https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2018/10/30/nitrogensensors">sensors</a> and <a href="https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/facts/">computer models</a> that enable farmers to manage their fields for improved outcomes. They also are developing <a href="https://news.engineering.iastate.edu/2019/09/12/isu-researchers-to-study-blockchain-technology-to-improve-sustainability-in-food-markets/">supply chain tracking systems</a> that will allow consumers to use a phone app to get information about the farm that grew or raised a product before they purchase it. </p>
<p>Many groups are involved in these efforts. The Iowa chapter of <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/iowa/">The Nature Conservancy</a> is working with agricultural retailers on <a href="https://www.4rplus.org/">improving fertilizer management</a>. Collaborations of farmers, crop breeders and food suppliers – facilitated by organizations like <a href="https://practicalfarmers.org/">Practical Farmers of Iowa</a> – are fueling a renaissance in the production of small grains like oats and rye. </p>
<h2>Speeding up the transition</h2>
<p>A decade ago, my colleagues and I brought national, state and local leaders together for a <a href="https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol16/iss1/art10/">dialogue on the future of Iowa agriculture</a>. While we did not capture all the details, we largely anticipated this gradual shift toward more economically and environmentally sustainable farming methods.</p>
<p>As we see it, macro-scale forces are driving this transition. Global commodity markets reward efficient production, requiring farmers to do more with less. Americans are <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/232007/americans-want-government-more-environment.aspx">demanding stronger action</a> to protect the environment. Federal farm policies are increasingly encouraging <a href="https://www.usda.gov/topics/conservation">conservation</a> and <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/">soil health</a>. And new technologies are enabling farmers to <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2016/december/precision-agriculture-technologies-and-factors-affecting-their-adoption/">seed and treat crops more precisely</a> and reduce harmful impacts such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/reducing-water-pollution-with-microbes-and-wood-chips-58852">nutrient pollution</a>.</p>
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<p>I believe a much brighter future is possible if government officials, agricultural businesses and farm, commodity and environmental organizations can unite around a transformative goal. For example, the national, state and local leaders we gathered to discuss the future of Iowa agriculture proposed an initiative to <a href="https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol16/iss1/art10/">double the full value – monetary and non-monetary</a> – of our state’s agricultural economy over 25 years. </p>
<p>With widespread support, such an effort could usher in a new era of economic and environmental wealth in Farm Belt states. It would start with investing in <a href="https://theconversation.com/regenerative-agriculture-can-make-farmers-stewards-of-the-land-again-110570">regenerative systems</a> – farming methods that produce agricultural goods and services while also improving soil and water resources, unique habitats and pastoral countrysides. And it would require simultaneous investments in rural infrastructure, new businesses and local and regional markets.</p>
<h2>An alternative future</h2>
<p>What would this transformed system look like? By the 2028 Iowa caucuses, dynamic public-private partnerships of farmers, landowners and others could be working to increase crop diversity and rotations, expand conservation practices and develop necessary markets and infrastructure, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/reaching-rural-america-with-broadband-internet-service-82488">rural broadband</a>.</p>
<p>More farmers would be planting cover crops like winter rye to help their fields retain nutrients, <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/">improve soil health</a> and control weeds. Those who raise corn and soybeans could partner with neighboring livestock producers to grow <a href="https://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books/Building-Soils-for-Better-Crops-3rd-Edition/Text-Version/Cover-Crops/Types-of-Cover-Crops">winter crops</a> for grazing, leaving fewer fields bare.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296966/original/file-20191014-135487-rksen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296966/original/file-20191014-135487-rksen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296966/original/file-20191014-135487-rksen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296966/original/file-20191014-135487-rksen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296966/original/file-20191014-135487-rksen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296966/original/file-20191014-135487-rksen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296966/original/file-20191014-135487-rksen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296966/original/file-20191014-135487-rksen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cattle grazing on cover crops in Sac County, Iowa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/VTAFXx">NRCS/SWCS/Lynn Betts</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Surveys show that Americans are willing to pay for initiatives that <a href="https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/soc_las_reports/1/">provide multiple benefits from farmlands</a>. Reinvestments in agriculture, renewable energy, rural development and conservation programs could be funded philanthropically and through the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-2018-farm-bill-means-for-urban-suburban-and-rural-america-89605">U.S. farm bill</a>.</p>
<p>By the 2048 caucuses, Iowa and other farm states where farmers mainly raise commodity crops like corn and soybeans could be producing a wide variety of goods and services, including annual and perennial grains, fiber and biomass crops, livestock, wind and solar energy, ethanol, biodiesel, fruits, vegetables, nuts and hops. Managing farm landscapes for carbon, nutrients, water and wildlife could be as central to farming as crop management is today. </p>
<p>Easy access to rural broadband, plus advances in <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25059/science-breakthroughs-to-advance-food-and-agricultural-research-by-2030">sensors, artificial intelligence and robotics</a>, would enable highly precise nutrient management, pest and disease control and manure handling.</p>
<p>Small towns could be ringed with <a href="https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2019/08/22/middlebrook-iowa-agrihood-cumming-des-moines-country-rural-urban-real-estate-home-purchase-land-farm/2062279001/">agrihoods</a> – planned communities built around working farms and community gardens. They would be vibrant and desirable places to live, offering high-tech jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities, an affordable cost of living and outdoor recreation opportunities. </p>
<h2>A national conversation</h2>
<p>Agriculture is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.12.007">always changing</a>. U.S. elected leaders hold substantial influence over this process through their public platforms and ability to make policy.</p>
<p>A decade ago, my colleagues and I saw a choice for U.S. agriculture: incremental improvement, or a push for transformational change that would improve communities and landscapes in farm country. The incremental approach is not moving quickly enough, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-of-americas-rural-areas-are-doomed-to-decline-115343">rural communities and landscapes are suffering</a> as a result.</p>
<p>Transformational change could look like the future I have described. How do we make it happen? Iowa and other farm states are ready for that conversation.</p>
<p>[ <em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Schulte Moore has received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (FSA, NIFA, SARE), the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, Walton Family Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Iowa State University, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, USDA Forest Service, National Science Foundation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bayer Crop Science, The Nature Conservancy, Syngenta, Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance, DuPont-Pioneer, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Ornithological Union, and Iowa Native Plant Society. She is on the boards of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Practical Farmers of Iowa, and Iowa Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. </span></em></p>Investing in farming methods that improve lands and water, and in rural infrastructure and markets, could bring new prosperity to agricultural communities.Lisa Schulte Moore, Professor of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1230902019-09-10T20:04:32Z2019-09-10T20:04:32ZClimate explained: regenerative farming can help grow food with less impact<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291401/original/file-20190909-175696-gf9bci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C285%2C5276%2C3094&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Returning nutrients, including animal feces, to the land is important to maintain the soil's capacity to sequester carbon.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/climate-explained-74664">Climate Explained</a></strong> is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.</em> </p>
<p><em>If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>I would like to know to what extent regenerative agriculture practices could play a role in reducing carbon emissions and producing food, including meat, in the future. From what I have read it seems to offer much, but I am curious about how much difference it would make if all of our farmers moved to this kind of land management practice. Or even most of them. – a question from Virginia</strong></p>
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<p>To identify and quantify the potential of regenerative agriculture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we first have to define what it means. If regenerative practices maintain or improve production, and reduce wasteful losses on the farm, then the answer tends to be yes. But to what degree is it better, and can we verify this yet?</p>
<p>Let’s first define how regenerative farming differs from other ways of farming. For example, North Americans listening to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/08/13/746576239/is-grass-fed-beef-really-better-for-the-planet-heres-the-science">environmentally conscious media</a> would be likely to define most of New Zealand pastoral agriculture systems as regenerative, when compared to the tilled fields of crops they see across most of their continent. </p>
<p>If milk and meat-producing animals are not farmed on pasture, farmers have to grow grains to feed them and transport the fodder to the animals, often over long distances. It’s hard to miss that the transport is inefficient, but easier to miss that nutrients excreted by the animals as manure or urine can’t go back to the land that fed them.</p>
<h2>Healthy soils</h2>
<p>Returning nutrients to the land really matters because these build up soil, and grow more plants. We can’t sequester carbon in soil without returning nutrients to the soil.</p>
<p>New Zealand’s style of pastoral agricultural <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/003231870806000107">does this well</a>, and we’re still improving as we focus on reducing nutrient losses to water. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-launches-plan-to-revive-the-health-of-lakes-and-rivers-123079">New Zealand launches plan to revive the health of lakes and rivers</a>
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<p>Our pastoral soils tend to have <a href="https://doi.org/10.4141/S04-082">as much carbon</a> as they once did under forest, but concerns have been raised about <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.11.012">carbon losses in some regions</a>. Yet, we do still have two big problems.</p>
<p>First, the animals that efficiently digest tough plants – including cows, sheep, and goats – all belch the greenhouse gas methane. This is a direct result of their special stomachs, and chewing their cud. Therefore, farms will continue to have high greenhouse gas emissions per unit of meat and milk they produce. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">IPCC</a>) report <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49238749">emphasised this</a>, noting <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/08/2f.-Chapter-5_FINAL.pdf">that changing diets can reduce emissions</a>.</p>
<p>The second problem is worst in <a href="https://www.dairynz.co.nz/environment/climate-change/greenhouse-gases-in-the-dairy-industry/">dairying</a>. When a cow lifts its tail to urinate, litres of urine saturate a small area. The nitrogen content in this patch exceeds what plants and soil can retain, and the excess is lost to water as nitrate and to the air, partly as the powerful, long-lived greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. </p>
<h2>Defining regenerative</h2>
<p>Regenerative agriculture lacks a clear definition, but there is an opportunity for innovation around its core concept, which is a more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.07.269">circular economy</a>. This means taking steps to reduce or recover losses, including those of nutrients and greenhouse gases.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/regenerative-agriculture-can-make-farmers-stewards-of-the-land-again-110570">Regenerative agriculture can make farmers stewards of the land again</a>
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<p>Organic agriculture, which prohibits the use of antibiotics and synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, could potentially include regenerative agriculture. Organics once had the same innovative status, but now has <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/11/673094/when-less-is-better">a clear business model and supply chain linked to a price premium</a> achieved through certification.</p>
<p>The price premium and regulation linked to certification can limit the <a href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00886434/document">redesign of the organic agricultural systems</a> to incremental improvements, limiting the inclusion of regenerative concepts. It also means that emission studies of organic agriculture may not reveal the potential benefits of regenerative agriculture. </p>
<p>Instead, the potential for a redesign of New Zealand’s style of pastoral dairy farming around regenerative principles provides a useful example of how progress might work. Pastures could shift from ryegrass and clover to a more diverse, more deeply rooted mix of alternate species such as chicory, plantains, lupins and other grasses. This system change would have three main benefits.</p>
<h2>Win-win-win</h2>
<p>The first big win in farming is always enhanced production, and this is possible by better matching the ideal diet for cows. High performance ryegrass-clover pastures contain too little energy and too much protein. Diverse pastures fix this, allowing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2018.01.009">potential increases in production</a>. </p>
<p>A second benefit will result when protein content of pasture doesn’t exceed what cows need to produce milk, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1442-1">reducing</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2017.04.023">diluting</a> the nitrogen concentrated in the urine patches that are a main source of nitrous oxide emissions and impacts on water. </p>
<p>A third set of gains can result if the new, more diverse pastures are better at capturing and storing nutrients in soil, usually through deeper and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2463-z">more vigorous root growth</a>. These three gains interrelate and create options for redesign of the farm system. This is best done by farmers, although <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2017.03.015">models</a> may help put the three pieces together into a win-win-win.</p>
<p>Whether you’re interested in local beef in Virginia, or the future of New Zealand’s dairy industry, the principles that define regenerative agriculture look promising for redesigning farming to reduce emissions. They may prove simpler than <a href="https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/currently-science/climate-change-new-zealand-farms-low-emission-future">agriculture’s wider search</a> for new ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including <a href="https://www.agresearch.co.nz/news/key-step-forward-for-game-changing-grass/">genetically engineering ryegrass</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123090/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Troy Baisden receives funding from Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Endeavour Fund. He is a Principal Investigator in Te Pūnaha Matatini Centre of Research Excellence on Complexity and Networks.</span></em></p>Regenerative agriculture has the potential to build production and reducing pollution, but it needs a clearer definition.Troy Baisden, Professor and Chair in Lake and Freshwater Sciences, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1217332019-08-13T11:16:42Z2019-08-13T11:16:42ZRestoring soil can help address climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287718/original/file-20190812-71940-vgx9eq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">No-till farming conserves soil by greatly reducing erosion.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/n8ZQsk">USDA NRCS South Dakota/Eric Barsness</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s time to take soil seriously. As the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> states with <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/08/2e.-Chapter-4_FINAL.pdf">very high confidence</a> in its latest report, land degradation represents “one of the biggest and most urgent challenges” that humanity faces.</p>
<p>The report assesses potential impacts of climate change on food production and concludes that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels will <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-affecting-crop-yields-and-reducing-global-food-supplies-118897">reduce crop yields</a> and degrade the <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-will-make-rice-less-nutritious-putting-millions-of-the-worlds-poor-at-risk-97914">nutritional quality of food</a>. </p>
<p>To avert climate catastrophe, the report warns, people need to make changes in agriculture and land use. In other words, it’s no longer enough to wean society off of fossil fuels. Stabilizing the climate will also require removing carbon from the sky. Rethinking humanity’s relationship to the soil can help on both scores.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ykgEwEOA25w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The world’s soils are rapidly deteriorating due to soil erosion, nutrient depletion and other threats. But sustainable practices and technologies can reverse this trend.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Soils under stress</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287742/original/file-20190812-71909-1c70dhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287742/original/file-20190812-71909-1c70dhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287742/original/file-20190812-71909-1c70dhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287742/original/file-20190812-71909-1c70dhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287742/original/file-20190812-71909-1c70dhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287742/original/file-20190812-71909-1c70dhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=664&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287742/original/file-20190812-71909-1c70dhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=664&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287742/original/file-20190812-71909-1c70dhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=664&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Soil organic matter is carbon-based substances in soil, including leaves, roots and living organisms such as earthworms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MEDIA/nrcs142p2_049823.jpg">USDA NRCS</a></span>
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<p>Healthy, fertile soils are rich in organic matter built of carbon that living plants pulled out of the atmosphere through photosynthesis. Carbon-rich organic matter helps fuel the soil organisms that recycle and release mineral elements that plants take back up as nutrients. </p>
<p>But soils release carbon too. And the frequent tillage and heavy fertilizer use that underpin modern conventional agriculture have accelerated degradation of soil organic matter, sending more carbon skyward – a lot, it turns out. </p>
<p>The new IPCC report concludes that globally, cropland soils have <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/08/2e.-Chapter-4_FINAL.pdf">lost 20-60%</a> of their original organic carbon content. North American farmland has lost <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/3/2936">about half</a> of its natural endowment of soil carbon. On top of those losses, modern agriculture consumes a lot of fossil fuels to pull plows and manufacture the synthetic nitrogen fertilizers that farmers rely on to coax large harvests from degraded soils.</p>
<p>Land management choices also affect the amount of carbon stored in trees, plants and soil. The new IPCC report estimates that serious changes in forestry and agriculture to curtail deforestation and improve soil management could reduce global emissions by <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/08/2e.-Chapter-4_FINAL.pdf">5% to 20%</a>. While this won’t solve the climate problem, it would represent a significant down payment on a global solution.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287721/original/file-20190812-71921-yg82sw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287721/original/file-20190812-71921-yg82sw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287721/original/file-20190812-71921-yg82sw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287721/original/file-20190812-71921-yg82sw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287721/original/file-20190812-71921-yg82sw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287721/original/file-20190812-71921-yg82sw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287721/original/file-20190812-71921-yg82sw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287721/original/file-20190812-71921-yg82sw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">How plants sequester carbon A) as they grow and B) after they die.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2019/cover-crops-and-carbon-sequestration-benefits-producer-and-planet">University of Nebraska-Lincoln</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>Farming for carbon</h2>
<p>Investing in soil regeneration would also deliver other benefits. One key takeaway from the IPCC report is that conventionally tilled soils erode more than 100 times faster than they form. This troubling conclusion echoes and amplifies what I found a decade ago, after <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0611508104">compiling global data</a> on rates of soil formation and loss. My book “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520272903/dirt">Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations</a>” tells how soil degradation undermined societies around the world, from the ancient Greeks and Romans to the U.S. Dust Bowl of the 1930s.</p>
<p>Today humans have degraded roughly one-third of the world’s topsoil, and about 3.2 billion people – more than a third of humanity – <a href="https://www.ipbes.net/deliverables/3bi-land-degradation">already suffer</a> from the effects of degraded land. Continuing down this path does not bode well for feeding a growing world population.</p>
<p>But what if it was possible to reverse course, regenerate soil organic matter and reduce farmers’ need for diesel fuel and chemical fertilizers made with fossil fuels? This would make it feasible to stash more carbon in the soil and reduce the amount that’s sent skyward in the process of growing food.</p>
<p>I saw the potential for regenerative agriculture to restore soil organic matter in both developed and developing countries when I researched “<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393356090">Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life</a>,” my book about how regenerative farming practices allow farmers to reduce their use of costly fertilizers and pesticides. </p>
<p>All of the farmers I interviewed shared three things in common. They had switched from plowing to <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2017/11/30/saving-money-time-and-soil-economics-no-till-farming">no-till</a> methods that minimized soil disturbance, planted cover crops, and grew a diverse mix of cash and cover crops. Some had even adopted regenerative grazing practices that put livestock to work rebuilding carbon-rich soil. Their results showed me that when farming and ranching practices build soil health, they can reverse soil degradation rapidly <a href="https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4428">and profitably</a>.</p>
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<h2>Worth the transition</h2>
<p>Barriers to adopting regenerative farming systems include force of habit, lack of knowledge about new practices and real and perceived economic risk during the transition. But the benefits of rebuilding healthy, fertile soil are clear. </p>
<p>According to a 2018 <a href="https://www.ipbes.net/deliverables/3bi-land-degradation">U.N. report</a> that reviewed global land degradation, the economic benefits of land restoration average 10 times the costs. Rebuilding fertile soil is also one of the most promising ways to address <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)17834-9">hunger and malnutrition</a> in Africa, where the costs of failing to combat land degradation are typically <a href="https://www.ipbes.net/deliverables/3bi-land-degradation">three times</a> the cost of addressing the problem.</p>
<p>Restoring soil health would help mitigate the effects of climate change. Increasing the amount of organic matter in soil enhances its ability to hold water. And improving soil structure would let more rainfall sink into the ground, where it can better sustain crops – especially during drought-stressed years – and help reduce flooding downstream. In addition to benefiting the climate, less fertilizer use will reduce off-farm <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/can-the-world-find-solutions-to-the-nitrogen-pollution-crisis">water pollution</a>. </p>
<p>Regenerative practices that focus on soil building bring other benefits too. For example, one 2006 study surveyed low-input, resource-conserving agricultural practices in 286 development projects across Latin America, Africa and Asia that employed cover crops for nitrogen fixation and erosion control and integrated livestock back into farming systems. It found that for a wide variety of systems and crops, yields increased an average of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/es051670d">almost 80%</a>. Results like these indicate that investing in soil-building practices would help feed a warming world.</p>
<p>When President John F. Kennedy called for a national effort to go to the Moon, the U.S. managed to do the unthinkable in under a decade. I believe it’s time now for a global “soilshot” to heal the land. Rebuilding healthy fertile soil on the world’s agricultural lands would require fundamental changes to agriculture, and a <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393356090">new agricultural philosophy</a>. But consider who stands to lose from such a shift: corporate interests that profit from modern agrochemical-intensive farming and factory-farm livestock production. Who stands to gain? Everyone else.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David R. Montgomery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More than one-fifth of global warming emissions come from land use. Sustainable farming can make soil healthier and better able to soak up carbon, while saving energy and boosting food production.David R. Montgomery, Professor of Earth and Space Sciences, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1105702019-02-11T11:45:27Z2019-02-11T11:45:27ZRegenerative agriculture can make farmers stewards of the land again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258082/original/file-20190210-174880-1olhzb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rock Hills Ranch in South Dakota uses managed grazing techniques to maintain healthy, diverse plant communities in its pastures.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/27KPv78">Lars Ploughmann</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For years, “sustainable” has been the buzzword in conversations about agriculture. If farmers and ranchers could slow or stop further damage to land and water, the thinking went, that was good enough. I thought that way too, until I started writing my new book, “<a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9781496205056/">One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl’s Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture</a>.”</p>
<p>I grew up on a cattle ranch in western South Dakota and once worked as an agricultural journalist. For me, agriculture is more than a topic – it is who I am. When I began working on my book, I thought I would be writing about sustainability as a response to the environmental damage caused by conventional agriculture – farming that is industrial and heavily reliant on oil and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/agrochemical">agrochemicals</a>, such as pesticides and fertilizers. </p>
<p>But through research and interviews with farmers and ranchers around the United States, I discovered that sustainability’s “give back what you take” approach, which usually just maintains or marginally improves resources already degraded by generations of conventional agriculture, does not adequately address the biggest long-term challenge farmers face: climate change. </p>
<p>But there is an alternative. A method called <a href="https://regenerationinternational.org/why-regenerative-agriculture/">regenerative agriculture</a> promises to create new resources, restoring them to preindustrial levels or better. This is good for farmers as well as the environment, since it lets them reduce their use of agrochemicals while making their land more productive.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">North Dakota farmer Gabe Brown describes how regenerative methods have improved soil on his farm.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>What holds conventional farmers back</h2>
<p>Modern American food production remains predominantly conventional. Growing up in a rural community of farmers and ranchers, I saw firsthand why. </p>
<p>As food markets globalized in the early 1900s, farmers began specializing in select commodity crops and animals to increase profits. But specialization made farms less resilient: If a key crop failed or prices tumbled, they had no other income source. Most farmers stopped growing their own food, which made them dependent on agribusiness retailers. </p>
<p>Under these conditions small farms consolidated into large ones as families went bankrupt – a trend that <a href="https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/fedgazette/chapter-12-bankruptcies-on-the-rise-in-the-ninth-district">continues today</a>. At the same time, agribusiness companies began marketing new machines and agrochemicals. Farmers embraced these tools, seeking to stay in business, specialize further and increase production. </p>
<p>In the 1970s, the government’s position became “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/04/usa.obituaries">Get big or get out</a>” under Earl Butz, who served as Secretary of Agriculture from 1971 to 1976. In the years since, critics like the nonprofit <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/">Food and Water Watch</a> have raised concerns that corporate representatives have <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/insight/public-research-private-gain">dictated land grant university research</a> by obtaining leadership positions, funding agribusiness-friendly studies, and silencing scientists whose results conflict with industrial principles. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258034/original/file-20190208-174861-2ex9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258034/original/file-20190208-174861-2ex9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258034/original/file-20190208-174861-2ex9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258034/original/file-20190208-174861-2ex9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258034/original/file-20190208-174861-2ex9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258034/original/file-20190208-174861-2ex9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258034/original/file-20190208-174861-2ex9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258034/original/file-20190208-174861-2ex9v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2017/nebraska-farms-decrease-2016">University of Nebraska – Lincoln, data from USDA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>These companies have also shaped government policies in their favor, as economist Robert Albritton describes in his book “<a href="https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745328065/let-them-eat-junk/">Let Them Eat Junk</a>.” These actions encouraged the growth of large industrialized farms that rely on <a href="https://theconversation.com/gm-foods-big-biotech-is-quietly-winning-the-war-52715">genetically modified seeds</a>, agrochemicals and fossil fuel. </p>
<p>Several generations into this system, many conventional farmers feel trapped. They lack the knowledge required to farm without inputs, their farms are big and highly specialized, and most are carrying operating loans and other debts.</p>
<p>In contrast, regenerative agriculture releases farmers from dependence on agribusiness products. For example, instead of purchasing synthetic fertilizers for soil fertility, producers rely on diverse crop rotations, no-till planting and management of livestock grazing impacts.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.farmprogress.com/node/314077">Agribusiness dogma</a> says that regenerative agriculture cannot feed the world and or ensure a healthy bottom line for farmers, even as <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/this-one-here-is-gonna-kick-my-buttfarm-belt-bankruptcies-are-soaring-11549468759">conventional farmers are going bankrupt</a>. I have heard this view from people I grew up with in South Dakota and interviewed as a farm journalist. </p>
<p>“Everybody seems to want smaller local producers,” Ryan Roth, a farmer from Belle Glade, Florida told me. “But they can’t keep up. It’s unfortunate. I think it’s not the best development for agriculture operations to get bigger, but it is what we’re dealing with.”</p>
<h2>The climate threat</h2>
<p>Climate change is making it increasingly hard for farmers to keep thinking this way. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that without rapid action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over roughly the next decade, warming will <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">trigger devastating impacts</a> such as wildfires, droughts, floods and food shortages.</p>
<p>For farmers, large-scale <a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/">climate change will cause</a> decreased crop yields and quality, heat stress for livestock, disease and pest outbreaks, desertification on rangelands, changes in water availability and soil erosion. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258036/original/file-20190208-174873-2bzy0l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258036/original/file-20190208-174873-2bzy0l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258036/original/file-20190208-174873-2bzy0l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258036/original/file-20190208-174873-2bzy0l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258036/original/file-20190208-174873-2bzy0l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258036/original/file-20190208-174873-2bzy0l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258036/original/file-20190208-174873-2bzy0l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258036/original/file-20190208-174873-2bzy0l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Projected milk production losses through 2030 due to heat stress in dairy cattle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/10/">USGCRP</a></span>
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<p>As I explain in my book, regenerative agriculture is an effective response to climate change because producers do not use agrochemicals – many of which are derived from fossil fuels – and greatly reduce their reliance on oil. The experiences of farmers who have adopted regenerative agriculture show that it <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/soils/health/mgnt/?cid=stelprdb1237584">restores soil carbon</a>, literally locking carbon up underground, while also reversing desertification, <a href="https://theconversation.com/farmers-are-drawing-groundwater-from-the-giant-ogallala-aquifer-faster-than-nature-replaces-it-100735">recharging water systems</a>, increasing biodiversity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And it produces nutrient-rich food and promises to enliven rural communities and reduce corporate control of the food system.</p>
<h2>No single model</h2>
<p>How farmers put this strategy into practice differs depending on their location, goals and community needs. Regenerative agriculture is a one-size-fits-none model of farming that allows for flexibility and close tailoring to individual environments.</p>
<p>At <a href="https://www.greatplainsbuffalo.com/">Great Plains Buffalo</a> in South Dakota, for example, rancher Phil Jerde is reversing <a href="https://www.unccd.int/frequently-asked-questions-faq">desertification</a> on the grassland. Phil moves buffalo across the land in a way that mimics their historic movement over the Great Plains, rotating them frequently through small pastures so they stay bunched together and impact the land evenly via their trampling and waste distribution. The land has adequate time to rest and regrow between rotations.</p>
<p>After transitioning his conventional ranch to a regenerative one over 10 years, Phil saw bare ground revert back to prairie grassland. Water infiltration into the ground increased, his herd’s health improved, wildlife and insect populations recovered and native grasses reappeared. </p>
<p>On <a href="http://brownsranch.us/">Brown’s Ranch</a> in North Dakota, farmer Gabe Brown also converted his conventional operation to a regenerative one in a decade. He used a combination of cover crops, multicropping (growing two or more crops on a piece of land in a single season), intercropping (growing two or more crops together), an intensive rotational grazing system called mob grazing, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/healthy-soil-is-the-real-key-to-feeding-the-world-75364">no-till farming</a> to restore soil organic matter levels to just over 6 percent – roughly the level most native prairie soils contained <a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1083169.pdf">before settlers plowed them up</a>. Restoring organic matter sequesters carbon in the soil, helping to slow climate change. </p>
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<p>Conventional farmers often worry about losing the illusion of control that agrochemicals, monocultures and genetically modified seeds provide. I asked Gabe how he overcame these fears. He replied that one of the most important lessons was learning to embrace the environment instead of fighting it.</p>
<p>“Regenerative agriculture can be done anywhere because the principles are the same,” he said. “I always hear, ‘We don’t get the moisture or this or that.’ The principles are the same everywhere. There’s nature everywhere. You’re just mimicking nature is all you’re doing.”</p>
<h2>The future</h2>
<p>Researchers with <a href="https://www.drawdown.org/">Project Drawdown</a>, a nonprofit that spotlights substantive responses to climate change, estimate that land devoted to regenerative agriculture worldwide will increase from 108 million acres currently to <a href="https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/food/regenerative-agriculture">1 billion acres by 2050</a>. More resources are appearing to help farmers make the transition, such as <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2018/12/12/how-investing-in-regenerative-agriculture-can-help-stem-climate-change-profitably/#366a527d3e5c">investment groups</a>, <a href="https://www.warren-wilson.edu/programs/sustainable-agriculture/">university programs</a> and <a href="https://www.afsc.org/program/new-mexico-farmer-farmer-training-program">farmer-to-farmer training networks</a>. </p>
<p>Organic food sales <a href="https://www.ota.com/resources/market-analysis">continue to rise</a>, suggesting that consumers want responsibly grown food. Even big food companies like <a href="https://www.generalmills.com/en/Responsibility/Sustainability/Regenerative-agriculture">General Mills</a> are embracing regenerative agriculture.</p>
<p>The question now is whether more of America’s farmers and ranchers will do the same.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110570/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Anderson has received funding from the MFA program at Florida Atlantic University and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.</span></em></p>US agriculture is dominated by large farms that rely on chemical inputs. In contrast, regenerative farming makes land and water healthier by mimicking nature instead of trying to control it.Stephanie Anderson, Instructor of English, Florida Atlantic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.